Shot putter Om Prakash Karhana and long jumper Mayookha Johnny won a bronze each as India began their campaign at the 20th Asian Athletics Championships on a mixed note on a rain-marred opening day here on Wednesday.
Star discus thrower Krishna Poonia finished a disappointing fourth, while another medal prospect and reigning Asian Games gold medallist Preeja Shreedharan also was fourth in women’s 10,000m on a day that saw intermittent rain, affecting the performance of athletes at Shiv Chhatrapati Stadium at Balewadi here.
Om Prakash, who was struggling all throughout the season, hurled the iron ball to a distance of 19.45 in his second attempt - his season’s best — though it was more than one meter outside his national record of 20.09m, to give India the first medal of the Championships.
Asian record holder Sultan Abdulmajeed Alheb of Saudi Arabia bagged the gold with a throw of 19.68m, which he achieved in his fifth and penultimate attempt. Season leader Chang Ming-Huang of Chinese Taipei was second with an effort of 19.61m.
This was Om Prakash’s third medal in the Asian Championships. He had won a gold in 2009 in Guangzhou and bagged a bronze in 2011 in Kobe, Japan. The Indian began well with a throw of 19.18m that put him second behind Ming-Huang after the opening round. The Indian was second after the fourth round behind Abdulmajeed but Ming-Huang produced an effort of 19.61m in the fifth round to seal the silver.
The opening day also saw organisational glitches with two scoreboards malfunctioning and results of the women’s discus throw coming out more than half an hour after the event finished.
Poonia herself thought that she was third and spoke to the media at the mixed zone thinking that she at least had a podium finish only to find out later that she was fourth.
Mayookha bagged a bronze in long jump after the event was stopped mid-way due to rain only to resume later. Mayookha, who won India’s lone gold in the 2011 edition in Kobe, Japan, entered the competition with a right ankle sprain and her coach had said before the event that it could effect her performance.
In the women’s 10,000 meter race, Preeja was not among the leaders from the beginning though she recovered some lost ground towards the end. The sparse local crowd cheering her could not spurred the Kerala girl as she finished a distant fourth in 33:41.97 behind Baharain’s Shitaye Eshete Habtegebrel (32:17.29), Alia Mohamed Saeed (32:39.39) of United Arab Emirates and Ayumi Hagiwara (32:47.44) of Japan.
In men’s 400m, Rajiv Arokia and Mohammad Kunhi qualified for the finals after finishing third and fourth in semifinals heat number two. In women’s 400m also, medal prospect M R Poovamma and Anu Mariam Jose entered the finals after winning their respective heats.