Tejinder Pal Singh Toor led from start to finish as he powered his way to the men’s shot put gold at the Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta and Palembang on Saturday.
The 23-year-old thrower from Punjab set a benchmark early on as he threw a 19.96 metres in his first attempt. He took the lead with his initial throw as China’s Yiu Liang was closest, throwing 19.42 metres in his first attempt.
Tejinder’s second attempt also crossed 19 metres, clocking 19.15 but he did not cross his best attempt. The third throw, which saw go out of the designated throwing zone, was deemed a foul but Tejinder was comfortably on top going into the final three throws into the top eight.
Sultan Abdelhebshi of Saudi Arabia and Shahin Mehrdelan of Iran, two of Tejinder’s biggest competitors could not manage a single legal throw and were eliminated after three throws.
After the resumption of the competition, Tejinder looked like he staggered on his fourth throw but still managed to equal his best throw of 19.96 metres.
It was his fifth throw that gave him the gold medal, the national record and the Games record as it was a humongous 20.75 metres. The throw put it beyond Liang’s reach as Tejinder all but assured himself of the top position.
The sixth was also a good 20-metre throw, as Tejinder who had finished eighth at the Commonwealth Games overcame his Gold Coast disappointment in style by being crowned champion of Asia.
