BANGKOK: Rajesh Ramesh, Aishwarya Mishra, Amoj Jacob and Subha Venkatesan helped India win the 4x400m mixed relay, beating back the challenge from Sri Lanka and Japan who settled for the silver and bronze medals respectively. India added five medals on the penultimate day of the Asian Athletics Championships here on Saturday.
The quartet opened with Rajesh, who put India in pole position as he handed the baton to Aishwarya. The women's 400m bronze winner powered her way to a flying lap and sent Amoj Jacob after a fine change over. Amoj, who lost the lead, recovered in fine fashion to regain the lead in the last 50-60 metres to send Subha in the clear. Subha too was passed by the Japanese athlete who tried to pull away. But Subha followed her closely before changing gears on the home stretch to zoom to victory, helping the team clock 3:14.70s.
This was after India endured a heartbreak at the long jump pit as Murali Sreeshankar's emotion s fluctuated in the space of a few seconds in the men's final as the wind blew in the wrong direction for him. It was a fascinating duel between the CWG silver medallist and Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu Tang and they were tied in first place after the first round with 8.10m. Sreeshankar then had a foul, followed by a series of 8.12, 8.11 and 8.13 as Tang snatched the lead leaping to 8.40 on his fourth.
It all came down to the Indian's last attempt and he came up with a real big jump. He knew it was big and confident of bettering 8.40 as he leaped in joy but it was short-lived as the big screen flashed 8.37m. A season's best against the wind (which read -1. 1m) but one that booked his ticket for the Paris Olympics.
The Indian camp were not happy with the measurement and lodged a protest paying a fee of $100. But there was no change in the rankings as the protest was rejected.
Noted high jump coach GV Gaonkar's former student Sarvesh Anil Kushare made the Indian high jump fraternity proud a s he gave favourite Woo Sanghyeok, world indoor champion and world championships silver winner, a close fight. Sarvesh began with 2. 05m and the Korean entered the fray 10 cm higher.
(THE WRITER IS IN BANGKOK AT THE INVITATION OF AAA)
