Antil lashes out at Milkha Singh

After India created history by sweeping all the medals in the women's discus throw at the Commonwealth Games, bronze medallist Seema Antil lashed out at legendary athlete Milkha Singh for saying that the country's athletes will not win a single medal in the quadrennial event.

"He (Milkha Singh) is a legend and should not have said that India would not win a single medal in athletics at the Delhi Games," Antil said at the post-competition press conference.

Milkha Singh, who was the only Indian to have won a gold at the Commonwealth Games, had predicted that the hosts would not bag even a single medal in athletics.

Krishna Poonia, who became the first Indian woman gold medallist in athletics, said that the competition was tough despite pull-outs by some athletes, including world champion Dani Samuels of Australia.

"Competition was tough, there was a world champion (Beatrice Faumuina of New Zealand) as well as defending champion (Elizna Naude of South Africa)," Haryana-born Poonia said.

"The crowd support motivated us to give our best and thus we won all the three medals," the gold medallist added.

About their preparations for the Asian Games, national coach Bahadur Singh said they would soon start preparing for next month's event.

"We have one month left for the Asian Games and we will get to training soon," he said.