India kicked off the 2017 Asian Athletics Championship in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar with a gold medal after women’s shot putter Manpreet Kaur threw 18.28 meters on Thursday.
Manpreet, a 27-year-old mother of a five-year-old from Ambala, completed a shot put throw of 18.86 meters at the Asian Grand Prix in China back in April.
“I was confident of winning the title on home soil and was mentally prepared to cross the 18m mark,” she told the Hindustan Times. “There was bit of pressure but I settled down as the event progressed.”
Manpreet qualified for the World Championships in London, breaking the national record two times in the last 20 months.
“My performance today will help me mentally gear up to face stiff challenge in the global competition,” she added.
She took a three-year hiatus after giving birth to her child before making a triumphant return to shot put in April, according to the Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Vikas Gowda grabbed a bronze medal for India during the men’s discus throw with an effort of 60.81 meters.
Long distance runner G Lakshmanan won the second gold medal in the 5000 meters for the South Asian country on opening day.
India is dominating the tournament with 15 medals so far, including six gold medals, six bronze medals and three silvers medals.
It’s followed closely by the People’s Republic of China in second place and the Islamic Republic of Iran in third.
