Anju bags gold with season’s best

Long jumper Anju Bobby George leaped her season’s best mark to clinch a gold to add to India’s dazzling medal tally of five golds, four silvers and two bronze at the third leg of the Asian GP here. Anju jumped 6.55 meters.

Indian middle distance runners also put up a good show by making a hat-trick of 1-2 finishes in the men’s 1500m and 3000m runs. Naresh Yadav clocked 3:53.98s and Sandeep Karan Singh produced a timing of 3:53.99s to win the gold and silver medals respectively in the 15000 meter event. Vietnam’s Nguyen Dinh Cuong finished third with 3:56.68s.

In the 3000m event, Kashinath Aswale travelled the distance in 8:16.22s while Ajay Kumar Patel followed with 8:16.56. Shotputter Satyendra Singh claimed his second gold on the circuit with 17.84m. The Indian women’s 4x400m relay team was the best in the competition with a timing of 3:33.08s. Their male counterparts’ Olympic hopes, however, were washed out due to heavy rain. Water-logging on the track resulted in their timing of 3:07.09s.

Kashinath Naik won the silver in the javelin throw with a distance of 68.65s.