CHENNAI : Tejinder Pal Singh Toor broke his own national record on Saturday at the 59th Open National Athletics Championship, claiming shot put gold with a throw of 20.92m. Despite a below-par show at the World Championships, Toor managed to better his Asian Games record of 20.75m. Foul throws troubled Toor in Doha. Even in Ranchi, he had three. Despite the achievement, coach Mahinder Singh Dhillon was unhappy as they were targetting Olympic qualification.
“A little disappointed because it looked like he touched 21.29m in his last attempt, which he fouled. Our target was qualification standard for 2020 Olympics. But we have time. We are looking at the World Military Games in China now. Hopefully, we will be able to do it there.”
In women’s 400m, favourite VK Vismaya raced to gold with a 52.71s effort. While Jisna Mathew did not finish, Anjali Devi surprised everyone, finish only third (53.03s). She has been the fastest 400m runner this season. In the men’s event, Noah Nirmal Tom pipped Amoj Jacob and IS Jeevan to claim gold with 45.88s. Long jumper M Sreeshankar retained his nationals crown as he bagged gold with an effort of 7.93m.