Shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor qualifies for Tokyo2020; Four National marks set

Patiala, June 21: Shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Punjab) qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games with a hefty 21.49m effort while sprinter Dutee Chand, discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur and the India 4x400m relay team also set new National Records in the Indian Grand Prix 4 athletics meet at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports on Monday.

The 26-year-old Tajinderpal Singh Toor, whose previous best was 20.92m, became the 11th individual Indian track and field athlete to qualify for Tokyo2020 by going past the qualifying mark of 21.10m with each of his four legal puts. He sealed the berth with his opening try and had other puts of 21.28, 21.13 and 21.13 besides no marks with his second and sixth attempts.

“It is a relief to be competing and I am grateful to the Athletics Federation of India for organising so many meets at home to give us chances to qualify for the Olympics,” Tajinderpal Singh Toor said. “I was throwing around 22m last year but Corona troubled the world. I had to get my body back in line, but when I did that, competitions were cancelled. I am glad that I could be at my best today. I was aiming for 21.50m and I got that with my first try.”

Dutee Chand mounted a gallant effort to crack the Olympic qualifying standard of 11.15 seconds in the women’s 100m. While she rewrote her own National Record, she was a heart-breaking two-hundredths of a second away from the magic mark. She also anchored the Indian team to a victory in the 4x100m relay in 43.37 seconds.

Kamalpreet Kaur also said she wanted to show her gratitude for the opportunity to compete with a good series as the sole competitor in the women’s Discus Throw event. Aiming for a 69m effort on Monday, she started with 63.41m throw before two fouls. She followed those with a 62.33m throw and uncorked her new National Record throw of 66.69m.

There were also game efforts by Hima Das (Assam) in the women’s 200m and Harmilan Kaur Bains (Punjab) in the women’s 1500m to take a crack at the Olympic qualifying marks but both fell short by small margins. Hima Das won the sprint in 22.88 seconds, a mere 0.08 seconds off the qualifying mark while Harmilan Bains, chasing 4:04.20, won the metric mile in 4:08.27.

The results:

Men

400m (compiled from Races A and B): 1. Sarthak Bhambri (Delhi) 47.45 seconds; 2. Amit Balyan (Haryana) 47.52; 3. Alex Anthony (Kerala) 47.55.

1500m: 1. Ajay Kumar Saroj (Uttar Pradesh) 3:43.46; 2. Ishu Solanki (Haryana) 3:53.55; 3. Sukhanpreet Singh (Punjab) 3:56.31.

400m Hurdles: 1. MP Jabir (Kerala) 50.51 seconds.

3000m Steeplechase: 1. Shankar Lal Swami (Haryana) 8:34.40; 2, Mohammed Nur Hasan (Uttar Pradesh) 9:19.18; 3. Parveen Dhanda (Haryana) 9:24.86.

4x400m Relay: 1. India A (Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv and Noah Nirmal Tom) 3:02.61; 2. India B 3:11.77; 3. Maldives 3:37.38.

Long Jump: 1. M Sreeshankar (Kerala) 7.74m; 2. Yugant Shekhar Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 7.67; 3. Muhammed Anees Yahiya (Kerala) 7.60.

Triple Jump: 1. Eldhose Paul (Kerala) 16.62m; 2. Karthik Unnikrishnan ((Kerala) 16.21; 3. Abdulla Aboobacker (Kerala) 15.90.

Shot put: 1. Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Punjab) 21.49m (New National Record. Old: 20.92, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Ranchi, October 12, 2019); 2. Karanveer Singh (Punjab) 20.00; 3. Vanam Sharma (Rajasthan) 19.93.

Javelin Throw: 1. Rohit Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 75.83m; 2. Arshdeep Singh (Punjab) 75.58; 3. Rajender Singh (Haryana) 74.28.

Women:

100m: 1. Dutee Chand (Odisha) 11.17 seconds (New National Record; Old: 11.22, Dutee Chand, Ranchi, October 11, 2019); 2. AT Daneshwari (Karnataka) 11.48; 3. Himashree Roy (West Bengal) 11.71.

200m: 1. Hima Das (Assam) 22.88 seconds; 2. S Dhanalakshmi (Tamil Nadu) 23.14; 3. Archana Suseendran (Tamil Nadu) 23.26.

400m (compiled from Races A and B): 1. M R Poovamma (Karnataka) 53.78 seconds; 2. VV Revathi (Tamil Nadu) 54.28; 3. Kiran Pahal (Haryana) 54.48.

1500m: 1. Harmilan Bains (Punjab) 4:08.27; 2. PU Chitra (Kerala) 4:25.31.

5000m: 1. Parul Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 16:01.37; 2. Pooja Harijan (Rajasthan) 16:51.84.

4x100m relay: 1. India A (Archana Suseendran, Hima Das, S Dhanalakshmi and Dutee Chand) 43.37 seconds (New National Record. Old: 43.42, India, Almaty, July 4, 2016); 2. India B 48.02; 3. Maldives 50.74.

Discus Throw: 1. Kamalpreet Kaur (Punjab) 66.69m (New National Record. Old: 65.06m, Kamalpreet Kaur, Patiala, March 19, 2021).

Javelin Throw: 1. Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 60.58m; 2. Sanjana Choudhary (Rajasthan) 53.54; 3. Shlipa Rani (Haryana) 48.74.