India's Tajinderpal Singh Toor, the reigning Asian Games champion in men's shot put, has qualified for Tokyo Olympic Games with an Asian record throw of 21.49m in the Indian Grand Prix IV here on Monday.
Toor's performance of 21.49m, a national record, bettered the Asian record of 21.13m as well as the qualifying mark of 21.10m. The 26-year-old's previous best was 20.92m.
He is the 11th Indian to qualify for Olympics in track and field.
Toor sealed the Olympic berth with his opening throw of 21.49m. His legal throws were 21.28, 21.13 and 21.13.
"It is a big relief to compete as we could not go abroad for competitions due to the pandemic. I am glad that I could do my best on Monday. I was aiming for 21.50m and I got that with my first throw," Toor said in a media interaction.
The results:
400m (compiled from Races A and B): Sarthak Bhambri (Delhi) 47.45 seconds, Amit Balyan (Haryana) 47.52, Alex Anthony (Kerala) 47.55.
1500m: Ajay Kumar Saroj (Uttar Pradesh) 3:43.46, Ishu Solanki (Haryana) 3:53.55, Sukhanpreet Singh (Punjab) 3:56.31.
400m hurdles: MP Jabir (Kerala) 50.51 seconds.
3000m steeplechase: Shankar Lal Swami (Haryana) 8:34.40, Mohammed Nur Hasan (Uttar Pradesh) 9:19.18, Parveen Dhanda (Haryana) 9:24.86 seconds.
4x400m Relay: India A (Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv and Noah Nirmal Tom) 3:02.61, India B 3:11.77, Maldives 3:37.38 secs.
Long Jump: M Sreeshankar (Kerala) 7.74m, Yugant Shekhar Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 7.67m, Muhammed Anees Yahiya (Kerala) 7.60m.
Triple Jump: Eldhose Paul (Kerala) 16.62m, Karthik Unnikrishnan (Kerala) 16.21m, Abdulla Aboobacker (Kerala) 15.90m.
Shot put: Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Punjab) 21.49m (New National Record. Old: 20.92m, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Ranchi, October 12, 2019); 2. Karanveer Singh (Punjab) 20.00m, Vanam Sharma (Rajasthan) 19.93m.
Javelin Throw: Rohit Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 75.83m, Arshdeep Singh (Punjab) 75.58, Rajender Singh (Haryana) 74.28m.
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