Tajinderpal Singh Toor wins shot put event to claim India's seventh gold at Asian Games 2018

ESPN staffAug 25, 2018, 05:41 PM

Tajinderpal Singh Toor brought India their seventh gold medal by winning the men's shot put event with an Asian Games record throw of 20.75m in Jakarta on Saturday. He has also broken the previous national record of 20.69m held by Om Prakash Singh.

Hima Das breaks national record

Hima Das set a new national record, clocking 51.00 in the 400m heats on Saturday. She finished second behind Bahrain's Salwa Naser's Games record timing of 50.86 to qualify for Sunday's event. Naser was the silver medallist at last year's World Championships.

The previous national record in the event belonged to Manjit Kaur, who had clocked 51.05 in Chennai in 2004. Hima's personal best prior to this was 51.13, which she got at the National Inter-state meet in Guwahati in June this year.

Fellow quarter-miler Nirmala Sheoran also qualified for the finals with a timing of 54.09. In the men's 400m, Muhammed Anas finished on top in the semi-finals with a timing of 45.30, while Arokia Rajiv qualified in sixth position with a timing of 46.08. In the 100m, Dutee Chand topped her heats with a timing of 11.38 (her personal best is11.24, set in Almaty, Kazakahstan two years ago). The 100m semi-finals will be held on Sunday.

Tajinderpal, who had won silver at the Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar in 2017 in the same event, started with a throw of 19.96m and claimed the gold ahead of Liu Yang of China (19.52m) and Ivan Ivanov of Kazakhstan (19.40m), both of whom registered their season's best throws. Tajinder is the first Indian to win the men's shot put gold at the Asian Games since Bahadur Singh Sagoo, who had thrown a best of 19.03m to win the gold in Busan in 2002. It's the eighth men's shot put gold for India in Asian Games history.

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Triple Jumper Arpinder Singh is doing a Facebook live of Roommate Tejinder Pal Toor's shot put competition. Throw 1 is 19.96m and Arpinder's confidently declared gold for the giant thrower. pic.twitter.com/YJdJIU4c6H
- jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) 25 August 2018

Tajinder, 23, was born in Khos Pando village in Punjab and used to play cricket in his early years, before his father encouraged him to try his hand at shot put. After completing his studies in physical education at the Malwa College of Physical Education, Bathinda, Tajinder joined the Indian Navy under the sports quota. The Asian Games medal also helps him put behind the disappointment of the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, where his best of 19.42m was only good enough for eighth place.

"My target was 21m, but I am happy with 20.75m," Tajinder later said. "I had not aimed for gold, just with the aim of 21m. From the first throw of 19.96, I was in the lead. The weather and wind conditions were favourable. For the Olympics, I have to target 21-plus. The fray did not bother me, I had my own preparations. I trained normally.

"The federation has backed me thoroughly. They send me wherever I want to train. I have been trying to break the national record for last two years and it has come here. It's really wonderful."