A day after grabbing the gold medal in long jump, India’s Mayookha Johny continued her impressive performance at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar as she pocketed her second medal from this tournament on Saturday. She leapt to 14.00m to clinch the silver medal in triple jump behind Kazakhstan’s Olga Rypakova.
The Kazakh athlete achieved a jump of 14.32m to set a new championship record. The bronze went to her compatriot Irina Ektova for a jump of 13.48m.
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South Asian Games champion Renjith Maheshwary, meanwhile, brought home India’s second medal on Day 2 of the competition by capturing the silver in men’s triple jump. He registered a jump of 16.16m.
Three medals for India on Day 1
Earlier on Friday, the 27-year-old Mayookha had emerged the winner in women’s long jump with an effort of 6.35m. Even though this was India’s first Asian indoor title in this category, it was not enough to fetch her a Rio Olympic berth. The qualifying criterion is set at 6.70m.
“Winning in Doha made me really happy, especially since I’m not used to competing indoors. However, I expected something better than 6.35m. But I’m not complaining at all. The Asian title is quite an achievement,” said Mayookha after winning the gold.
Vietnam’s Bui Thi Thu Thao settled for the silver with 6.30m while Rypakova picked up the bronze for a jump of 6.22m.
The other two Indian medallists on Friday were sprinter Dutee Chand and middle distance runner Sugandha Kumari.
Dutee got the bronze in women’s 60m dash after clocking 7.37 secs in the final. Earlier in the day, she had shattered the national record on her way to winning the heats in 7.28 secs. Sugandha Kumari, meanwhile, put up a good show in the women’s 1500m event to take the bronze with a timing of 4:29.06.
The championships will conclude on Sunday.
