Asian Atheletics: Mayookha bags bronze

Mayookha Johny grabbed her second medal with a new national record in triple jump while shot putter Om Prakash Karhana finished third as India won two bronze on the third and penultimate day of the Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe on Saturday.

Mayookha, who had won a gold in long jump on the opening day on Thursday, leapt 14.11m to win bronze, smashing her own national record of 14.02m which she set at the third leg of Asian Grand Prix at Wujiang, China to become the first Indian women triple jumper to cross 14m mark.

Compatriot M A Prajusha finished seventh with an effortof 13.63m.

Mayookha qualified for 2012 Olympics in triple jump, going past the London Games 'B' qualifying standard of 14.10m.

The Kerala athlete has now qualified for the August 27 to September 4 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in long jump as well triple jump.

She qualified in long jump as Asian champion while she crossed the 'B' standard of 14.10m in triple jump.

China's Limei Xie won the gold by leaping 14.54m, while Valeriya Kanatova of Uzbekistan bagged the silver with an effort of 14.14m.

The second bronze for India was won by shot putter Om Prakash Karhana who was defending the gold he won in the 2009 edition in Guangzhou.

Om Prakash's 19.47m was, however, more than half a meter less than the London Olympics and World Championships 'B' qualification standard of 20m.

Another Indian in the event, Saurabh Vij was fourth with an effort of 18.72m.

Chinese Taipei's Ming-Huang Chang won the gold by tossing the iron ball to 20.14m while China's Jun Zhang was second in with an effort of 19.77.

The Indian camp, however, was a bit disappointed as Asian Games gold medallist Joseph Abraham and bronze winner Kavita Raut failed to make a podium finish in men's 400m hurdles and women's 5,000m, respectively.

Abraham, who had a national record timing of 49.51secs, finished fourth with a moderate 50.82sec. Compatriot Satinder Singh was sixth in a much slower 51.93 secs.

Asian Games bronze medallist Kavita Raut finished eighth in 5,000m race with a timing of 16:23.06 while compatriot Suriya Loganathan was ninth with 17:19.44. In the men's 5,00m race, Suresh Kumar finished sixth, clocking 14:05.64.

In women's heptathlon, Sushmita Singha Roy finished fourth with 5179 aggregate points. Sushmita, who was in second place.

Thailand's Wassana Winatho won the event with 5710 points.

In men's 800m race, Ghamanda Ram and Sajeesh Joseph qualified for the final after finishing first in their respective heats with 1:51.76 and 1:52.97 respectively.

India have so far won eight medals in the championships with one day to go with one gold, one silver and six bronze.