Inter-State Athletics 2023: Tajinderpal Singh Toor breaks Asian record to qualify for the World Championships

India's top shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor on Monday qualified for the World Championships by breaking his own Asian record with a throw of 21.77m on the final day of the Inter-State Athletics 2023 in Bhubaneswar on Monday. The qualifying standard for the World Championship is 21.40m.

Also Read: Murali Sreeshankar qualifies for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in the men's long jump event

Toor, representing Punjab, had an Asian record of 21.49 meters which he made in Patiala in 2021. The 28-year-old threw 21.77 meters in the third throw in the Inter-State Athletics at the Kalinga Stadium, which is the ninth-best performance in the world this season.

Toor also qualified for the Asian Games whose qualifying standard is 19 metres. The reigning Asian Games gold medallist cleared a distance of 21.09m in the first throw. His second throw was a foul after which he broke the Asian record. The next two attempts were also foul and he did not make the final attempt. 

Meanwhile, Karanveer Singh, also from Punjab, finished second with a throw of 19.78m, also qualifying for the Asian Games. While Jyothi Yarraji, who won gold medals in the 100m and 100m hurdles, was adjudged the best female athlete.

On the other hand, long jump star athlete Murali Sreeshankar made his career-best fourth attempt of 8.29 meters to easily win the gold medal. He started with 8.03m and had his best of the day in the second throw. The next four attempts were fouls. Jeswin Aldrin of Tamil Nadu finished second with a jump of 7.98m, also meeting the Asian Games qualifying standard of 7.95m.

Also Read: Bhavani Devi upsets Misaki Emura to advance into Semis of Asian Fencing Championships

Kerala's Ancy Sojan won the women's long jump gold by pipping India's number one Shaili Singh. Sojan jumped 6.51 meters. Uttar Pradesh's Shaili recorded the day's best jump of 6.49m in her second attempt. Both of them qualified for the Asian Games whose qualifying standard is 6.45 metres.

In javelin throw, Rohit Yadav of Uttar Pradesh, Kishore Kumar Jena of Odisha, and Shivpal Singh of Uttar Pradesh qualified for the Asian Games by achieving the qualifying standard of 78.23 meters. Rohit threw the javelin at 83.28m while Kishore and Shivpal managed 82.87m and 81.96m respectively.