India opened their account with women's shot putter Manpreet Kaur grabbing the gold medal with a throw of 18.28m on the opening day of the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships.
Manpreet also qualified for the World Championship in London by virtue of being Asian Champion. Seasoned Vikas Gowda, a last minute entry into the squad, won bronze medal in the men's discus throw event. Manpreet, who turned 27 on Thursday July 06,2017, upstaged defending champion Chinese Guo Tianqian to give herself a perfect birthday gift at the packed Kalinga Stadium.
Tianqian took the silver with a best throw of 17.91m while Aya Ota of Japan got the bronze with 15.45m. Manpreet though was expected to win the gold on Thursday as her 18.86m at Asian Grand Prix in Jianhua (China) was the season's best in the field of eight, in absence world No 4 Gong Lijiao of China (19.56m).
The Asian Championships winner get an automatic berth for the World Championships to be held in London next month but Manpreet, who originally hails from a village near Patiala in Punjab, had already qualified for the global flagship event with her own national record-improving effort of 18.86, in China.
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