Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2023: India’s Tajinderpal Singh Toor wins shot put gold medal

Tajinderpal Singh Toor, India’s national record holder in the men’s outdoor shot put, won the gold medal with a personal indoor best of 19.49m at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan on Friday.

Toor, an Asian Games gold medallist in 2018 and the outdoor Asian champion in 2019, won a silver medal at the last edition of the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tehran in 2018 with a 19.18m throw.

On Friday, Toor fouled on his first attempt but hurled the winning throws of 19.49 throw in his third and fifth attempts to claim his first gold medal at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. 

Karanveer Singh, the only other athlete to cross the 19m mark from the seven-man field, secured a one-two finish for India with a 19.37m throw. Ivan Ivanov of Kazakhstan claimed the last spot on the podium with 18.10m.

Praveen Chitravel, India’s national champion in the triple jump, claimed a silver medal with a 16.98m leap, a new national indoor record. Olympian Fang Yaoqing of China hit the 17.20m mark and won the gold while South Korea’s Yu Gyumin claimed bronze with 16.73m. India’s Arun AB finished 12th with a leap of 14.12m among 15 competitors.

Swapna Barman, an Asian Games 2018 gold medallist in the heptathlon, won silver in the women’s pentathlon event with an overall points tally of 4119, also a new national indoor record. 

Swapna Barman topped the 60m hurdles in 8.64s, claimed second place in the high jump with 1.75m, second place again in the long jump with 5.91m, fifth in the shot put with 12.13m throw and sixth in the 800m sprint after clocking 2:27.57 in the nine-woman field. India’s Sowmiya Murugan came eighth with 3654 points.

Ekaterina Voronina of Uzbekistan won the pentathlon with 4386 points and Yuki Yamasaki of Japan came third with 4078 points. 

Earlier in the day, India’s Jeswin Aldrin qualified for the men’s long jump final with a new indoor national record. Jeswin Aldrin topped the 17-man qualification field with a 7.93m leap and broke the previous national record of 7.92m matched by Murali Sreeshankar and Kumaravel Prem Kumar. 

Muhammed Anees Yahiya finished ninth with the best jump of 7.48m and failed to make the eight-man final, which will be held on Sunday.

Jyothi Yarraji, India’s indoor national record holder in women’s 60m hurdles, could not produce her best in the 60m sprint heats and finished overall 10th after clocking 7.47s. 

Archana Suseentran, also competing in the women’s 60m sprint, advanced to the eight-woman final from the field of 21 after finishing fifth with a timing of 7.42s. 

In the 60m women's final, Archana Suseentran clocked 7.39s and narrowly missed the podium behind Indonesia's Valentin Vanesa Lonteng, who came third in 7.37s.

Jyothi Yarraji will also be in action in the women’s 60m hurdles, where she owns the national record. Amlan Borgohain (men’s 60m sprint) and Shaili Singh (women’s long jump) are some of the other top Indian athletes who will compete in the competition. 

The Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2023 will conclude on Sunday.