India’s Swapna Barman celebrates with her national flag after competing in the women’s heptathlon at the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha. (Source: AP)Swapna Barman won the silver medal in Heptathlon event at the Asian Athletics Championships on Tuesday after scoring her season-best with 5993 points. India’s mixed relay team in 4X400m added another silver to India’s tally, taking it to 12 medals on Day 3 of the tournament.
The 22-year old opened the medal tally for India on Day 3. She finished with the silver medal behind Uzbeikstan’s Ekaterina Vornina (375) who scored 6198 points and missed breaking legendary Ghada Shouaa’s meet record of 6259 points.
Barman, however, was not satisfied with the second place. She said after the finish, “Not very happy, I am not pleased with my result in Javelin Throw this morning. Preparation was not good, I am injury queen you know (laughs), had a problem in ankle. I really wanted to do better.” Barman, who also won gold at the Asian Championships in 2017, returned from the Asian Games in 2018 with a gold.
Swapna Barman’s biodata now reads like this:
GOLD: Asian Games 2018 (6026 points)
GOLD: Asian Championships 2017 (5942 points)
Silver: Asian Championships 2019 (5993 points) pic.twitter.com/PrqhneFkOs— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) 23 April 2019
Swapna Barman (who won Silver medal in Heptathlon event at Asian Athletics Championships) on the victory podium #AAC2019 #AsianAthleticsChampionship2019 pic.twitter.com/kVEpzn0R74
— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) 23 April 2019
Meanwhile, Anas, Poovamma, Vismaya and Arokia ran the final of 4X400m Relay (Mixed) event clocking 3:16.47 to finish in the second position. The final baton exchange between Vismaya and Arokia wasn’t perfect.
#Silver, Silver, Silver another medal for India, this time in 4*400m Mixed Relay (Mohd Anas Yahiya, Poovamma MR, VK Vismaya, Arokiya Rajiv) clocked 3:16.47 to fetch the medal. In AG 2018, Indian team clocked 3:15.71s for Silver Medal @afiindia @PoovammaMR #AsianAthletics pic.twitter.com/8dlfXwXIgk
— Nitin Arya (@nitinarya99) 23 April 2019
Dutee Chand stormed into the final of Women’s 200m after winning her Heat clocking 23.33s. Earlier in the tournament, Dutee finished fifth in the 100m finals. Ajay Kumar Saroj stormed into Final of Men’s 1500m after finishing 2nd in Heat (2) clocking 3:49.20.
India finished 4th in 4X100m Relay (Women), clocking 43.81s. Suseentra, Veeramani, Kunnath and Dutee ran the race. The last baton exchange between Kunnath and Dutee took a long time, otherwise medal looked likely.
In a major blow to India, Jinson Johnson pulled out of the tournament, owing to an injury just hours before the 1500m finals. “His left calf muscle is troubling him at the moment. Doctors have advised him not to compete in such situation,” deputy chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair said in a statement.
Johnson could not complete his 800m final race on Monday. He holds the national records in both 800m and 1500m.
