Vikas wins bronze in discus throw in Asian athletics

Gowda, who turned 34 on Thursday, was declared fit for participation after the national federation cleared his name at the last minute after a lot of deliberation. Gowda’s best came during the 2013 Asian Championships where he threw the discus to a distance of 64.90m. He had defeated Iran’s Mohammad Samimi and Ahmed Mohammed Dheeb of Qatar. He had won a gold in the 2013 edition in Pune with an effort of 64.90m before grabbing the same yellow metal in the last edition in Wuhan, China with a throw of 62.03m. 

The US-based thrower was among three Indians in fray for the throwing competition. Kirpal Singh and Dharamraj Yadav are the other two. In shotput, Manpreet Kaur captured the gold medal for India on the opening day of the competition. Manpreet, a mother of a five-year-old, threw 18.28m to claim the top medal in Bhubaneshwar.  Though, she could not break the record on Thursday, Manpreet managed a throw close to her best. Earlier, Dutee Chand qualified for semi-finals of women’s 100m with timing of 11.40 seconds.