It was an eventful second day of the Federation Cup 2023 athletics event at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Ranchi on Tuesday with Olympian Tajinderpal Singh Toor winning gold in men's shot put.
Toor, who is 28 years old and holds the Asian record, won the gold by throwing the shot put 20.42m, although it was not as far as his personal best of 21.49m.
Representing Punjab, Toor surpassed the qualifying mark for both the Asian Championships and Asian Games, which were set at 19m. The second and third-place finishers, Sahib Singh from Delhi (19.23m) and Karanveer Singh from Punjab (19.05m), also exceeded the qualifying mark.
MORE: Latest betting odds for IPL 2023
Meanwhile, Annu Rani, the national record holder in women's javelin, hurled the spear 59.24m to meet the criteria for the Asian Championship and the Asian Games set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). However, it was far from her best performance as she holds the record with 63.82m that she achieved in 2022.
Srabani Nanda, hailing from Odisha, claimed gold in 100m with a time of 11.57 seconds. Despite her victory, she fell short of the Asian Championship qualification standard of 11.44 seconds.
In the men's category, Amiya Kumar Mallick, also from Odisha, secured gold with a time of 10.31 seconds in the 100m event. However, his winning time was also below the qualifying standard of 10.19 seconds required for both the Asian Championships and Asian Games.
Aishwarya Mishra from Maharashtra clinched the women's 400m title, clocking 52.57 seconds, surpassing the Asian Championships standard.
Ramesh from Tamil Nadu emerged victorious in the men's 400m race, finishing in 45.75 seconds, with Muhammed Ajmal (45.85) coming in second. Both athletes surpassed the Asian Championships qualification standard of 46.17 seconds.
Another record.
— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) May 16, 2023
Jyothi Yarraj clocks 13.18 secs in women’s 100m hurdles heat to improve her Fed Cup record of 13.43 secs, set in 2022. pic.twitter.com/nTaSoLeTWI
Gulveer Singh from Uttar Pradesh, who secured the men's 10,000m gold, has also qualified for the 5000m final.
Earlier, 15 athletes had qualified for the final of the men's 5000m race from two heats held on Tuesday morning. In both heats, the top three runners completed the race in under 14 minutes 10 seconds but missed the Asian qualifying time for the 5000m event which is 14 minutes.
During the men's 110m hurdles heats, Tejas Ashok Shirse from Maharashtra set a new meet record with a time of 13.61 seconds, surpassing the previous record of 13.65 seconds.
Among the 13 competitors vying for a spot in the final, Shirse was the only athlete to clock below 14 seconds. However, that was not enough as The Asian Championships qualification mark set by AFI is 13.57 seconds.
MORE: Why Indian boxer Nitu Ghanghas is moving up to 54kg category
In the women's 100m hurdles heats, three athletes achieved the Asian Championships qualification mark including national record holder Jyothi Yarraj from Andhra Pradesh, by improving her previous meet record with a timing of 13.18 seconds.
R Nithya Ramaraj from Tamil Nadu (13.62 secs) and Pragyan Prasant Sahu (13.61 secs) were the other two athletes who made the cut for the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 which will be held in Pattaya from July 12 to 16.
Furthermore, Md Nur Hasan and Priti Lamba won gold medals in the men's and women's 3000m steeplechase events to earn their tickets to the Asian Championships in their respective races.
The Federation Cup 2023 athletics meet will conclude on May 18.
Sudirman Cup 2023: How did India fare against Malaysia?
