Asian Athletics Championships 2023: Tajinderpal Singh Toor claims 4th Gold for India in Bangkok

Asian Record holder Tajinderpal Singh Toor has thrown the 7.26kg iron ball at a distance of 20.23 to claim 4th Gold for India at the ongoing Asian Athletics Championships 2023 in Bangkok on Friday.

Also Read: Asian Athletics Championships 2023: India's results; medal tally

Toor achieved the feat with the best mark of 20.23m but limped out after the effort, holding his groin.      Saberi Mehdi (19.98m) of Iran and Ivan Ivanov (19.87m) of Kazakhstan took the silver and bronze respectively. It's Toor's 3rd medal at Asian Athletics Championships. Earlier he had also won medals in the 2017 (Bronze) and 2019 (Gold) editions. The 28-year-old Toor became only the third shot putter to defend the Asian Championships title.

🚨 MEDAL ALERT! 🇮🇳🇮🇳 #AsianAthleticsChampionships

🥇Tajinderpal Singh Toor wins gold medal in men's shot put final with an attempt of 20.23m

➡️ Toor in all likely is also injured as the shot putter could only perform two throws

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The extent of Toor's injury is not yet known but it could be a cause of concern for him as the World Championships (August 17 to 27) begin in Budapest in just over a month. He had qualified for the World Championships with his new Asian record throw of 21.77m in the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar last month. Toor had also missed the 2022 World Championships due to a groin strain. He had developed the injury just before the event, which also forced him to skip the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Toor has undergone surgery on the left wrist of his throwing arm just after the Tokyo Olympics. He also participated with a bandaged left wrist on Friday.

Also Read: Asian Athletics Championships 2023: Full schedule to watch

Earlier, Jyothi Yarraji won India's first gold medal at the 25th Asian Athletics Championship in Bangkok on Thursday. Jyothi won the 100m hurdles gold medal in a rain-marred final, which probably caused her to clock a time of more than 13 seconds - 13.09s. Earlier in the heats, she had topped with a time of 12.98 seconds - her sixth sub-13s run of the year. Jyothi's gold medal brought about a medal shower, which included two other gold medals won by Ajay Kumar Saroj (1500m) and Abdulla Aboobacker (Triple Jump).

Earlier in the day, Parul Chaudhary was too hard to catch in the closing stages. She took a big lead to win the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 women's 3000m steeplechase.