CWG athletics: India bag second gold in best Games show (Roundup)

NEW DELHI - India capped their memorable track and field outing at the 2010 Commonwealth Games with the women’s 4×400 metres relay team bagging the gold. Adding to the one that discuss thrower Krishna Poonia won Monday, this is the first time that India have won two golds at a single edition of the games.

It rained medals for the hosts, as four other bronze came during the evening.

Only the two gruelling marathon races are left in the track and field compeition. Both will be held Thursday.

A day after Krishna Poonia ended a 52-year gold drought by winning the women’s discus, the women’s quarter miler relay team finished ahead of the field clocking 3:27.77 second, much to the ecstacy of a nearly 40,000 strong crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh had won India’s first gold in men’s 400 metres at the the 1958 Cardiff Games.

The third place finishes came in the two 4×100m relays, from Renjith Maheswary in men’s triple jump and Kashinath Naik in men’s javelin throw, making it the most productive day ever for India in the Games.

The digital clock showed 10 minutes to 9pm at the mesmerising stadium bathed in soothing light, as the women’s 4×400 m relay quartet of Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini Chidananda Akkunji and Mandeep Kaur received the hard-earned gold from Commonwealth Games Organising Committee president Suresh Kalmadi, to the cries of “India”, “India” from the spectators.

But the credit should go to Ashwini who pushed India from the third to the first position, running the third lap. Manjeet and Sini had finished at least 10 metres behind the Nigerians and the English contestants in the first two laps.

Soon after receiving the baton from Sini, Ashwini sprinted like a deer to first cover up the ten-metre deficit and then overtake her two rivals one after another to lead the field before handing over the baton to Mandeep.

The experienced Mandeep maintained the lead all through to ensure a top podium finish for the country, and it was the first ever occasion in the Games when the Indian national anthem was played on two consecutive days in the track and field arena.

Nigeria (3:28.72) got the silver and England (3:29.51) landed the bronze.

Manjeet became the most successful Indian athlete in the Commonwealth Games, as she was part of the team that won the silver at Melbourne four years ago.

Naik won the bronze in men’s javelin by sending the spear soaring to a distance of 74.29 metres. Jarrod Bannister (81.71 metres) of Australia got the gold, while new Zealander Stuart Farquhar (78.15 metres) won the silver.

In women’s 4×100 metres relay, the quartet of Geetha Satti, Srabani Nanda, P.K. Priya and Jyothi Hiriyur Manjunath missed the silver by one-hundredth of a second. The Indian girls finished third in the race with a timing of 45.25 seconds, while Ghana (45.24 seconds) bagged the silver.

England (44.19 seconds) got the gold in the event for the first time in 24 years.

The team of Rahamatulla Molla, Suresh Sathya, Shameer Naseema Manzile and Mohammed Abdul Najeeb Qureshi got the bronze in men’s 4×100 metres relay race with a timing of 38.89 seconds England (38.74 seconds) got the gold while Jamaica (38.79 seconds) bagged the silver.

Maheswary lunged to the bronze in men’s triple jump with a 17.07 metres effort behind gold winner Tosin Oke (17.16 metres) of Nigeria and silver medal winner Cameroon’s Lucien Hugo Mamba Schlick (17.14 metres).