Arpinder Singh clinched India’s first Men’s Triple Jump gold in 48 years with a jump of 16.77m at the Asian Games 2018. India’s last Asian Games gold medal in this event had come in 1970 from Mohinder Singh Gill.
Arpinder, produced a best jump of 16.77 m in his third attempt to clinch the yellow metal. Ruslan Kurbanov of Uzbekistan took the silver with a best jump of 16.62m while Shuo Cao of China was third with an effort of 16.56m.
However, Arpinder’s season best is 17.09m which he did during the National Inter-State Championships in June 2018. He has a personal best of 17.17m. He had finished fifth in the 2014 Asian Games.
India’s another track and field gold came from Swapna Barman in Women’s Heptathlon. During the two-day long event, Swapna maintained her lead and consistency throughout the competition.
In the first event, the 100m race, Swapna had finished fifth with a total of 981 points. But she raced to the top after the second event, the high jump. She had a total point of 1984 in this event. In the shot put, she improved her personal best to 12.69 and retained her overall lead. However, in the 200m finished just outside 26.00 and dropped to second place in overall standings with 3481 aggregate points. In the long jump , Barman recorded an impressive 6.05m timing in her second attempt to take the lead again. But all the difference was done by her in the Javelin event. Swapna consolidated an incredible first throw of 50.63m, her personal best. It was matter of one more fair show for Swapna Barman in the 800m to seal a gold. She finished with a time of 2:21.13, earning 803 points, enough for her to win the event.
