Indian shot-putter Inderjeet Singh qualifies for Rio Olympics, no funds to continue training

World University Games silver medalist shot putter Inderjeet Singh achieved the Olympic qualification mark with a throw of 20.65m on the second day of the 19th Federation Cup at Mangala Stadium, at Mangalore on Sunday.

Defending champion Inderjeet from Harayana was just a shade away from the national mark of 20.69m, held by Om Prakash Singh since 2012. The Olympic qualification period commenced on Saturday and is 20.50m for the men’s shot put. Punjab’s Tejinder Singh (18.08m) pushed Om Prakash (18.02m) to third spot.

But on Monday, television media reported that he doesn’t have a job or a good support system to pursue his dream and training, except for contributions from people in his circles.

Army man Devender Singh become the first athlete to create a new meet mark as he set out the spear to 79.65 metres to win the javelin throw event. Haryana’s Neeraj Chopra (73.96m) and Delhi lad Rohit Kumar (72.72m) were the other medallists. The first two came under the qualifying grade for the Asian meet.

National record-holder Rajinder Singh (Haryana), who won the National Games gold with 82.23m, finished a disappointing fourth with a paltry 71.67m. Former Youth Olympic Games silver medalist Durgesh Kumar Pal clinched the gold in men’s 400m hurdles clocking a personal best 50.29 secs, thus obtained a berth in the Wuhan-bound team for the Asian championships.

His Army teammate M Ramachandran, in second place, also made it with yet another career best time of 50.35s. The bronze in this event went to Tamil Nadu youngster A Dharun in 51.14 secs.

It was indeed a tremendous improvement in Personal Bests for both the athletes as their previous bests stood at 50.61 and 50.87 secs respectively. 2014 winner Jithin Paul, representing Gujarat, fails to defend his title this time and finished outside the podium in 51.47s.

Capitalising on the absence of Ashwini Akkunji, Kerala girl Anu Raghavan took the women’s title in 400m hurdles. In addition to the gold, she also attained the qualifying norm for the Asians with a time of 59.13 secs that was third best in her career and second in the current season. Host state’s M Arpitha (60.79s) collected the silver while Tamil Nadu got another bronze medal through M Loganayaki (62.99s).

Army got another gold medal through Jinson Johnson as he came from behind to win the men’s 800m in 1:47.58, yet another PB for him. Manjeet Singh (Tata Motors, 1:48.14) and K A Bharath of Karnataka (1:50.80 PB) garnered the other two medals, while local lad Vishwambar Kolekar who led the field with 50 secs first lap could manage only a fourth place at the end in 1:51.84.

PTI