He produced some great throws as he headed to discus gold with a new meet record. He also touched 60 meters for the first time in his career.
Kirpal won his fourth attempt with 61.83m; It was one of his four consecutive throws that went beyond 60 metres.
Moon. , photo credit: K. Ragesh
makes the grade
No Indian man has probably looked so good throwing discus since Vikas Gowda. Kripal’s performance was good enough to meet the qualifying standard for the Asian Games.
He also broke the meet record held for 22 years. It was set by Anil Kumar (59.55m). Gowda’s national record, set in 2012, is, however, a long way off – at 66.28m.
Here Kripal was good enough for the field. Haryana’s silver medalists Prashant Malik (54.11m) and Rajasthan’s Amit Kumar (52.95m) were barely in the picture.
Delhi’s KM Chanda also surpassed the Asian Games qualifying mark in the women’s 800m. The 20-year-old won the gold with a timing of 2:02.11, ahead of Bengal’s Lily Das and Maharashtra’s Yamuna Ladkat.
Result:
Men: 800m: 1. Krishna Kumar (H) 1:47.43, 2. P. Mohd Afsal (Kerala) 1:47.45, 3. Anu Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 1:47.81.
pole vault: 1. Shiv (TN) 4.90m and Gokul Nath (TN) 4.90m, 3. A. Gyan Son (TN) 4.90m.
Discus: 1. Kripal Singh (Pun) 61.83m (NMR; OR: 59.55m), 2. Prashant Malik (Hr) 54.11, 3. Amit Kumar (Raj) 52.95.
Female: 800m: 1. KM Chanda (Delhi) 2:02.11, 2. Lily Das (Ben) 2:03.23, 3. Yamuna Girl (Mah) 2:03.39.
triple jump: 1. Karthika Gothandapani (Tamil Nadu) 13.14m, 2. Sandra Babu (Ker) 12.98m, 3. S Nandini (Tamil Nadu) 12.92m.
high jump: 1. Abhinay Shetty (Kar) 1.83m, 2. Gresena Merli (Tamil Nadu) 1.83m, 3. Kevin Ashwini Annavi (Tamil Nadu) 1.71m.
wheel: 1. Seema Punia (UP) 54.83 m, 2. Nidhi Rani (Har) 52.18 m, 3. Sonal Goyal (Delhi) 50.62 m.
Heptathlon: 1. Swapna Barman (Ben) 5800 marks, 2. Marina George (Ker) 5249, 3. Sonu Kumari (Hr) 4961.