Poonia betters CWG effort but finishes third

A below par Krishna Poonia and GG Pramila won a bronze each in women’s discus throw and heptathlon respectively to save India from ending the third day in track and field competitions without a medal on Tuesday. Indian had begun their track and field campaign in spectacular fashion winning two gold and a silver on Sunday but that was followed by a lull on Monday.

With Tuesday’s bronze medals,the Indian athletes have so far won two gold,a silver and two bronze. Poonia,who had won a bronze in Doha Asian Games four years ago as well as gold in last month’s Commonwealth Games,was expected to win at least a medal going by the past performances of the seven throwers in the field and it was just a question of the colour of the medal. The expected three-way contest among Poonia,Doha Asian Games gold medallist Song Aimin of China and another Chinese Li Yangfeng,however,turned out to be a two-way affair as Poonia could not improve upon her 61.94m which she achieved in her first attempt.

Poonia’s throw on Tuesday was more than her CWG gold-winning 61.51m effort but well below her personal best as well as season’s best of 63.69m.

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Season’s leader and VTB Bank Continental Cup winner,Yangfeng hurled 66.18m,a tad below her personal best of 66.40m,in her second attempt to win the gold. Aimin was trailing Poonia before clearing her silver-winning 64.04m,her season’s best but lower than her personal best of of 65.44m,in her fourth attempt.

Another Indian in the fray,Harwant Kaur,who had won a silver in the CWG,was a distant fourth with a disappointing 57.55m effort.

Pramila was second in shot put,200m race,long jump and javelin while finishing third in 100m hurdles,fourth in high jump and fifth in 800m. The two Indians in the women’s long jump — Mayookha Johny and MA Prajusha— came a cropper,finishing seventh and ninth out of 14 finalists.