Swapna Barman’s Silver Lining on Day of Disappointments for India at Asian Athletics
Swapna Barman finished with a season’s best aggregate of 5993 points to win silver in the heptathlon event at the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha.
Swapna Barman opened the medal haul for India on the third day of the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha on April 23. Barman won silver in the Heptathlon with a season’s best score of 5993 points. Indians won three medals on the day — a silver for the 4x400 mixed relay team and bronze for Sanjivani Jadhav in the women’s 10,000m.
Barman, 22, who finished behind Uzbekistan’s Ekaterina Vornina (6198 points), was not satisfied with her performance.
Also Read | Elections 2019: Vijender Singh, Gautam Gambhir in the Fray in Delhi; Here’s Why Both Deserve To Lose
“Not very happy, I am not pleased with my result in the javelin this morning. Preparation was not good, I am injury queen you know (laughs), had a problem in ankle. I really wanted to do better,” said the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist.
In the 4x4000m mixed relay, staged for the first time in the championship, the Indian quartet of Mohammed Anas, MR Poovamma, VK Vismaya and Arokia Rajiv clocked 3:16.47 to win silver behind favourites Bahrain.
In the women’s 10000m race, Sanjivani Jadhav clocked a personal best time of 32:44.96 to win bronze behind Bahrain’s Shitaye Habtegebrel (31:15.62) and Japan’s Hitomi Niiya (31:22.63).
With the three medals on Day 3, India have 13 overall from the championship — two gold, five silver and six bronze medals.
Also Read | Tajinder Toor, Gomathi Marimuthu Headline Acts on Day 2 of Asian Athletics
Meanwhile, Dutee Chand entered the final of the women’s 200m, winning her heats in 23.33s. Dutee, who finished fifth in the 100m event despite shattering the national record twice, during the heats and semifinal, would be looking to make amends in the 200 final.
Ajay Kumar Saroj progressed to the final of the men’s 1500m after finishing second in his heat, clocking 3:49.20.
There were a couple of major disappointments as well. The Indian 4X100m women’s relay quarted missed out on a medal, finishing fourth after botching up the last baton exchange between Ranga Kunnath and Dutee. The Indians lost time at the exchange which eventually cost them a podium finish.
In another setback, an injured Jinson Johnson pulled out just hours before the 1500m final. Johnson, struggling with a calf injury, could not complete in the 800m final on April 22 either.
Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.
