Gold for Luka, Poonia in Asian Grand Prix

CHENNAI - Legendary sprinter P.T. Usha could hardly stop smiling as her trainee Tintu Luka hung on to win the 800 metres gold in the third leg of the Asian Grand Prix athletics at the Nehru Stadium here Wednesday.

Luka looked out of breath over the home stretch and her initial 50-metre lead helped her to stave off the challenge as she finished in two minutes, 03.67 seconds, ahead of Kazhakhstan’s Margarita Matsko (2:04.42) and Sushma Devi (2:04.42) of India.

Krishna Poonia (discus), ranked ninth in the world, clinched her third gold of the series with a throw of 59.94, way below her winning effort in Bangalore (61.64), but better than her Pune showing (59.51).

“I am happy that I won all three events, but I couldn’t do better tonight as my grip on the discus was not up to my expected levels. But, I am focused to win both Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. My main goal is to reach 65 meter mark”, said Poonia who notched her personal best of 63.69 that she achieved in Santiago, Chile, last month.

The rather overcast conditions and showers Wednesday morning did not make for best of conditions for the athletes.

The results:

Men: 100M: 1.Suryo Agung Wibowo (Indonesia) 10.41 secs, 2.Zhang Peimeng (Chn) 10.45 secs, 3.Shehan Abeypitiy Age (S.L) 10.53 secs. 400M: 1.Nelson Stone (Papau New Guinea) 47.01 secs, 2.S.K.Mortaza (Ind) 47.29 secs, 3.P.Kunhumuhammed (Ind) 47.43 secs. 800M: 1.Sajad Moradi (Iran) 1:47.28secs, NMR: Sajad Moradi (Iran-1:47.70 secs), 2.Pankaj Dimri (Ind) 1:48.05 secs, 3.Ghamanda Ram (Ind) 1:48.27 secs. High Jump: 1.Lee Hup Wei (Mal) 2.27m, 2.Wang Chen (Chn) 2.24m, 3.Nikhil Chittrasu (Ind) 2.15m. Long Jump: 1.Hery Dagmil (Phi) 7.69m, 2.Yu Zhengwei (Chn) 7.63m, 3.Hari Krishna (Ind) 7.54m. Triple Jump: 1.Wu Bo (Chn) 16.73m, 2.Ranjith Maheshwari (Ind) 16.60m, 3.Roman Valiyev (Kazak) 16.43m. Shot Put: 1.Zhang Jun (Chn) 18.64m, 2.Om Prakash (Ind) 18.45m, 3.Chang Ming Huang (Taipei) 17.90m.

Women: 100M: 1.Toea Wisil (Papua New Guinea) 11.66 secs, 2.Guzel Khubbieva (Uzbek) 11.72 secs, 3.H.M.Jyothi (Ind) 11.79 secs. 400M: 1.Chandrika S.Rasanayaka (S.L) 53.47 secs, 2.Salome Dell (Papau New Guinea) 55.35 secs, 3.Ranjana Roy (Ind) 55.85 secs. 800M: 1.Tintu Lekha (Ind) 2:03.67 secs, 2.Margarita Matsko (Kazak) 2:04.42 secs, 3.Syshma Devi (Ind) 2:04.76 secs. 110M Hurdles: 1.Anasstasiya Suprunova (Kazak) 13.49 secs, 2.Dedeh Erawati (Indonesia) 13.63 secs. 3.Gayatri Govindharaj (Ind) 13.80 secs. High Jump: 1.Svetlana Radzivil (Uzbek) 1.91m, 2.Anna Ustinova (Kazak) 1.85m, 3.Sahana Kumari (Ind) 1.75m. Triple Jump: 1.Aleksandra Kotlyarova (Uzbek) 13.74m, 2.Valeriya Kanatova (Uzbek) 13.62m, 3.Liu Yanan (Chn) 13.57m. Shot Put: 1.Liu Xiangrong (Chn) 17.95m, 2.Chia Ying Lin (Taipei) 15.94m, 3.Manpreet Kaur (Ind) 14.63m. Discus throw: 1.Krishna Poonia (Ind) 59.94m, 2.Harwant Kaur (Ind) 59.36m, 3.Seema Antil (Ind) 55.60m.

OPEN EVENTS:

Men: 100m: 1.Tsai Meng Lin (Taipei) 10.51 secs, 2. Franklin Rames Buruni (Indonesia) 10.51 secs, 3.Liu Yuan Kai (Taipei) 10.53 secs. 4 x 100m relay: 1.Chinese Taipei (39.32 secs), 2.Hong Kong (39.69 secs) and 3.India (Rahmatulla, Abdul Nanjee Qureshi, Manikandaraj, Ritesh Anand (39.72 secs). 4 x 400M Relay: 1.India (J.Premanand, S.Prakash Verma, Vikash Chandra, V.B.Vignesh) 3:14.79 secs); 2.Papua New Guinea - 3:15.03 secs. (Only two positions due to paucity of entries).

Women: 100m: 1.Nurul Sarah Bte Abdul Kadir (Mal) 11.98 secs, 2.Serafi Anelies Unani (Indonesia) 11.99secs, 3.Siti Fatimah Bte Mohamed (Mal) 12.01 secs. 4 x 100m Relay: 1. Malaysia (45.41 secs), 2.India (C.GH.Shanthi, P.K.Prya, H.M.Jyothi, Nirupamma - 45.84 secs), 3.Hong Kong (47.23 secs).