Davinder Singh Kang claims top prize in National Javelin Championship

AFI Media

Sonipat, April 16: Davinder Singh Kang (Punjab), IAAF World Championship 2017 finalist, kept his tryst with victory in the men’s final of the second National Javelin Thrown Open Championships at the SAI Regional Centre here on Tuesday but while he was delighted to be even competing, his winning distance of 74.28m did not give him as much joy.

With coach Uwe Hohn and biomechanics specialist Dr. Klaus Bartonietz watching him and the other throwers from the sidelines, the 30-year-old Davinder Singh Kang opened with a throw of 73.33m to lay down the gauntlet to the nine others. He followed it up with throws of 73.74m and 73.43m to lead the bunch of six athletes who got three more throws each.

He consulted the two experts after he was unhappy with his fifth throw, stepping over the touchline to record a foul and wound himself up to make one final attempt. He managed 74.28m, short of the 79.31m when he finished fifth in the Federation Cup in Patiala on March 16. Yet, he was returning to podium for the first time since an arduous time to avoid a long suspension.

Just over a month ago, the Athletics Integrity Unit let Davinder Singh Kang return to competition by withdrawing its Notice of Charge against the javelin thrower after the World Anti-Doping Agency suggested that it discontinue the disciplinary proceedings as the National Dope Testing Laboratory of India had withdrawn the adverse analytical finding on a sample provided by him.

In some ways, on Tuesday, he was competing with himself. Each of his five legal throws went farther than his nearest competitor Vipin Panwar best effort that went over 70.83m. He also had to keep his mind on uncorking explosive energy rather than focus on the skin-burn caused by a combination of spray and tape. “Actually, I am happy that I can even be competing,” he said.

Haryana’s Amit Dahiya picked up the bronze medal, lucky that Rishabh Nehra and Aashish Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) as well as Vijay Lakra (Jharkhand) threw the spear farther than him but in the Men’s under-20 category. Rishabh Chaudhary, who had won the bronze medal in the inaugural edition, upstaged defending champion Aashish Chaudhary by nearly half a metre.

Rohit Yadav, who set the under-18 National record with a throw of 81.75m in the preliminary round on Monday, uncorked two throws over 81m in the final. But the 81.37m and 81.73m were both short of his own mark of less than 24 hours vintage. He was in a league of his own, his other legal throw also sailing past the 73.01m that silver medal winner Nandkishor Singh notched up.

With a stiff breeze carrying the javelin out of the sector many times this morning, under-18 bronze medallist Yashvir Singh could draw pride from finishing with six legal throws ranging from 65.23m at the start to 71.54m in the end.

Delhi’s Lucky Negi won the under-16 crown investing all his energy for a last-ditch throw over 67.61m to edge out Jay Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) who had perched himself at the top of the charts with a 67.36m effort in the second round of throws.

Sprinter Vikrant Panchal records best timing at 400m Nationals

At the second AFI 400m National Open Championships in Lucknow, Haryana’s Vikrant Panchal emerged as the star of the meet with a timing of 47.88s in the Men’s under-20 final. Agnish NR of Karnataka finished second with the timing of 49.35s while Rajasthan’s Adesh Garsa claimed the third spot clocking 49.38s.

In the final of the men’s event, Vishal Chaturbhai (Gujarat) won the gold medal with the timing of 48.88s while Simran Kaur (Delhi) bagged the gold medal in the women’s category clocking 58.62s.

The Javelin Throw results (finals):

Men: 1. Davinder Singh Kang- 74.28m; 2. Vipin Panwar-70.83; 3. Amit Dahiya-68.21.

Men under-20 (800gm): 1. Rishabh Nehra-71.84m; 2. Aashish Chaudhary-71.39; 3. Vijay Lakra-69.71.

Boys under-18 (700gm): 1. Rohit Yadav-81.73m; 2. Nandkishor Singh-73.01; 3. Yashvir Singh-71.54.

Boys under-16 (700gm): 1. Lucky Negi-67.61m; 2. Jay Kumar-67.36; 3. Sanoj Yadav-59.99.

The 400m results (finals):

Men: 1. Vishal Chaturbhai- 48.88s; 2. Pankaj Malik-49.09s; 3. M Ramachandran-49.27.

Women: 1. Simran Kaur-58.62s; 2. Vidhi Daga-59.66s; 3. Neetu Prajapati-01:08.77.

Men under-20: 1. Vikrant Panchal-47.88s; 2. Agnish NR-49.35s; 3. Adesh Garsa-49.38s.

Women under-20: 1. Florence Barla-56.27s; 2. Nanhi Chaudhary- 56.72s; 3. Bhumi Cholaramane- 58.47s.

Boys under-18: 1. Shivang Mishra- 49.31s; 2. Ravinder Paswan- 50.00s; 3. Balram- 50.23s.

Girls under-18: 1. Damini- 1:00.73; 2. Nidhi- 1:05.97; 3. Yukta Ghosalkar- 1:07.71.

Boys under-16: 1. Mohit- 51.40s; 2. Devram Rathwa- 51.76s; 3. Kuldeep Kumar- 52.35s.

Girls under-16: 1. Netra- 1:00.98; 2. Atreyee Sarkar- 1:01.56; 3. Amudha Yalini- 1:03.47.