Tejaswin Shankar wins country's first-ever medal in men's high jump
Hima Das celebrates after winning her heat at the Commonwealth Games. –Reuters
Ace Indian sprinter Hima Das qualified for the semifinal of the women's 200 m event following her top spot finish in heat two of round one at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Thursday.
Das was extremely fast in the race as she clocked timings of 23.42 seconds to book her ticket to the semifinal.
At the second was Zambia's Rhoda Njobvu, who clocked 23.85 seconds.
The third position was occupied by Uganda's Jacent Nyamahunge, who finished the race with timings of 24.07 seconds.
The first three athletes of five in the heat qualified for the semifinal.
Notably, in Athletics, Tejaswin Shankar won India its first-ever medal in the men's high jump event at the Commonwealth Games in its 2022 edition in Birmingham on Wednesday.
India's Shankar started with a successful jump of 2.10m in his first attempt. Shankar took a smooth jump as he cleared the 2.15m hurdle with complete ease on his first attempt.
Shankar executed the 2.19m jump in an emphatic fashion. Throughout the game, Shankar did not find any difficulty getting over the bar once again with a 2.22m jump on his first attempt itself.
However, the Indian high jumper failed to get over the bar on his first attempt in the 2.25m hurdle and in his second attempt too. He decided to give 2.25m third attempt a miss and went straight for 2.28m but failed to clear it. With the failed attempts he had to settle for the bronze medal at the Birmingham 2022.
Sarita Romit Singh and Manju Bala are currently in action in the Group A qualification round of Hammer Throw.
Murali Sreeshankar and Muhammed Anees will represent India in the long jump final.
Indian athletes Murali Sreeshankar and Muhammed Anees Yahiya have made it to the finals of the men's long jump event after landing in the top three in the qualification rounds of their respective groups at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Tuesday.
In his group A qualification round, Sreeshankar made a jump of 8.05 m in his first attempt. This was all the Indian needed to reach the final. He was at the top of the leaderboard from the get-go and nobody could outdo him. At the second position was Laquan Nairan of Bahamas with best jump of 7.90 m. Jovan van Vuuren of South Africa was in the third position with the best jump of 7.87 m. The top eight athletes from the group qualified for the finals.
In the Group B qualification round, Anees was also off to a good start, making a jump of 7.49 m in his first attempt. He made a jump of 7.68 m in his second attempt and another 7.49 m in his third attempt, finishing with the best of 7.68 m.
He finished third in his group, next to Emanuel Archibald of Guyana who had the best jump of 7.83 m in his first attempt. At the second was Christopher Mitrevski of Australia, who pulled off the best jump of 7.76 m. Anees finished and qualified for the final as the 8th-best jumper. A total of 12 athletes qualified for the final. (ANI)