Indian athletics is on a roll with Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker taking gold and silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham
India has long been described as the “sleeping giant” of athletics. If the country ever tapped into the track and field potential within its 1.38 billion population, it could be a real force.
There were signs that the giant might be stirring last year when Neeraj Chopra won Olympic javelin gold. And this week at the Commonwealth Games the nation had won, as of midday on Sunday (Aug 7), eight medals.
Two of these came in the men’s triple jump on Sunday morning when Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker Narangolintevid finished one-two with another Indian, Praveen Chithravel, fourth.
To add to the excitement, the duo were only separated by one centimetre as well as Paul won with a best jump of 17.03m (3.1).
It was India’s first ever title in this event as Jah-Nhai Perinchief of Bermuda finished third with 16.92m and the first home nations athlete was Ben Williams in eighth with 16.03m after a frustrating series of fouls.
The Indian success followed hot on the heels of Avinash Sable very nearly beating Kenyan Abraham Kibiwott in the 3000m steeplechase the previous day. Plus on Sunday morning there were bronze medal in the men’s 10,000m race walk and women’s javelin, too, from Sandeep Kupar and Annu Rani respectively.
READ MORE: Full results from Birmingham 2022
“I came here to record a personal best and I did that, and it automatically earned me gold,” said Paul. “I had confidence, because we were jumping good distances in training and there were good conditions for jumping today.”
On the growing status of athletics as an athletics nation, the winner added: “The sporting culture in India is changing. We are getting more support from the Indian Athletics Federation and Sports Group of India – and that helps athletics in India to grow.”
Evan Dunfee (Mark Shearman)
Dunfee wins race walking gold as Bosworth bows out
After winning Olympic bronze in the 50km event last year, racing over 10,000m on the track at the Alexander Stadium must have felt like a sprint to Evan Dunfee of Canada.
The 31-year-old clocked 38:36.37 (imagine trying to run, let alone walk, two back-to-back 5kms in 19:18) as he beat Declan Tingay of Australia by six seconds with Sandeep Kumar of India a further seven seconds back in third.
In fourth, Callum Wilkinson was close to his UK record of 39:05.85 with 39:06.28, while Tom…
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