Jakarta: Swapna Barman became the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold while Arpinder Singh ended a 48-year long wait for triple jump victory after Dutee Chand blazed the track for her second silver on an action-packed day of athletics here on Wednesday.
Barman, who has six toes in both her feet, battled severe tooth ache during her event and competed with a tape on her right cheek. Still, she produced her career-best performance by logging 6,026 aggregate points from the seven events.
Dutee Chand rests after crossing the finish line to win silver medal in the women’s 200m in Jakarta on Wednesday. (Photo:PTI)
Before Barman, only Bengal’s Soma Biswas and Karnataka’s J. J. Shobha and Pramila Aiyappa had returned with a medal from the Asian Games. Biswas and Shobha had finished two-three at both Busan Asian Games (2002) and the Doha Games (2006), while Pramila had won a bronze at the 2010 Guangzhou edition.
“I have got this gold on the National Sports day, so it’s really special. I use normal shoes, worn by people who have five toes. It really pains during training. It is very uncomfortable, whether I wear spikes or normal shoes,” Barman said with a smile.
Swapna Barman in action during the women’s heptathlon long jump event in Jakarta on Wednesday. (Photo:AP)
A dehydrated Arpinder jumped 16.77m in his third attempt to win the men’s triple jump gold. India’s last Asian Games gold medal in men’s triple jump had come in 1970 from Mohinder Singh Gill.
Dutee added a silver to her kitty by finishing second in the women’s 200m after finishing second in the women’s 100m dash a few days before. She crossed the finishing line in 23.20 seconds, behind Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong who clinched gold in 22.96. The bronze went to China’s Wei Yongli (23.27).
The 22-year-old Dutee was not allowed to participate in the 2014 Asian Games as she was serving a ban under the hyperandrogenism policy of the IAAF (international athletics federation). She filed an appealed against this policy before the Court of Arbitration for Sports and won it. In a recent revision of the IAAF’s hyperandrogenism policy (which bars women athletes having male hormones above permissible limit from competing), Dutee has been left out of its purview. The rule now applies to events from 400m to the mile.
“I have faced a lot since 2014. No one has gone through such a bad phase. I am glad that I could win two medals for the country. As of now there is no issue but there is no guarantee (of any ban),” the diminutive but gritty Dutee told reporters.
Meanwhile, Khushbir Kaur finished fourth in the women’s 20km race walk with a timing of 1:35:24 while compatriot Soumya Baby was disqualified after receiving her third warning for ‘loss of contact’ after the 14km mark. In the men’s 20km race walk event also, both national record holder K. T. Irfan and Manish Rawat were disqualified in similar situations as Soumya. In men’s 1500m, Jinson Johnson and Manjit Singh made it to the final race at overall second and seventh in qualification.
