It was a famous Indian 1-2 in men’s triple jump as Eldhose Paul won gold ahead of compatriot Abdulla Aboobacker at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Sunday.

Paul became the first Indian athlete to win triple jump gold medal in CWG history.

Making it a memorable morning for Indian athletics at Alexander Stadium, Annu Rani claimed a first Commonwealth Games medal when she won bronze in the women’s javelin throw. Sandeep Kumar also won bronze in the men’s 10km racewalk with a personal best of 38:49.21 minutes.

In triple jump, Praveen Chithravel finished fourth behind Bermuda’s Jah-Nhai Perinchief. The Bermudan led from the start by registering a 16.92m jump with his first attempt with Chithravel and Aboobacker in second and third with jumps of 16.75m and 16.57m respectively.

India at CWG 2022 Day 10 blog

After a 14.62m first jump, Paul improved with a 16.30m second jump before becoming the first jumper on the day to breach the 17m mark with a 17.03m jump. Aboobacker registered a 17.02m jump with his fifth attempt to leapfrog Perinchief to the silver medal position and also pushed Chitravel to fourth.

Chithravel, with a best jump of 16.89m, tried to join his compatriots on the podium but he could only manage 16.85m and 16.28m with his final two jumps. It was overall a fine show by the trio.

In the women’s javelin throw final, Annu Rani registered a 55.61m first throw while fellow Indian Shilpa Rani threw 54.22m. In fifth having registered foul throws with her second and third attempts, Annu threw 60m with her fourth attempt to jump into the bronze medal place. It wasn’t quite close to her best and she didn’t pleased at the end of fouled sixeth attempt.

Canada’s Elizabeth Gleadle was close behind Annu with a best throw of 59.79m but couldn’t overhaul Annu registering only one successful throw from her last three attempts.

The national record holder hence became the first Indian woman to win a medal in the javelin throw at CWG.