Shanthi, Soma win silver each; Shobha bag a bronze

Doha, Dec 9 (UNI) Middle distance runner Shanthi Soundarajan and heptathlete Soma Biswas hogged the spotlight as they put up brave performances against their formidable rivals to win a Silver each in the Asian Games Athletics competition here today.

Soma's teammate J J Shobha finished third in Heptathlon to earn a Bronze for the country.

Both Soma and Shiobha had won a Silver and Bronze in the same event at Busan Asian Games in 2002.

In the women 800m, 25-year-old Shanthi ran a great race and virtually gave Bahrain's famed runner Maryam Yusuf Jamal a run for her money before running out of steam in the home stretch to take the Silver.

Maryam, a former Ethiopian, was expected to win easily but the stout-hearted Indian made her sweat out for the Gold. Maryam clocked a below par 2:01.79, while Shanthi timed 2:03.16 to be second and Kazakhstan's Viktoriya Yalovtseva, with a personal best of 2:03.19, took the Bronze.

Another Indian in the fray, Sinimole Paulose, also timed personal best of 2:03.76 but that was only enough for the fifth place.

Shanthi thus retained the Silver for the country in this race. In Busan Asiad, Madhuri Singh had finished second in this event.

Though 2:03.16 fetched Shanthi the Silver, it was not her best, it was below her personal best - cum - season best of 2:02.21, while Maryam's personal best is 1:59.04.

Sinimol's personal best before this was 2:4.07.

In Heptathlon, Indian champion Soma Biswas accumulated 5675 points for a Silver while compatriot Shobha, with 5662 points, was third for the Bronze.

The Gold was claimed by Kazakhstan's Olga Rypakova with 5955 points. The difference between Olga and Biswas was a huge 280 points.

Shobha had won a gold in the Inchon Asian Track and Field meet last year.

In the men's long jump, Shiv Shankar Yadav finished seventh with a jump of 7.64m which he achieved in his fourth attempt. After fouling first two attempts, Yadav cleared 7.48 and followed it with 7.64. He fouled his fifth attempt and cleared 7.52 in his last.

The Indian's personal best is 8.01, repeat of which would have got him a Silver here.

Husssain Taher Al Saba won the Gold with a 8.02m jump, Kuwait's Saleh Al Hadad took the Silver at 7.88 and Saudi Arabia's Faez Bin Marzouq bagged the Bronze in 7.85.

Earlier in the morning session, quarter-milers Pinki Parmanik and Manjeet Kaur qualified for the finals of Women's 400m race, finishing second in their respective heats.

Twenty-yearo-old Pinki, who had given impressive performance through the Asian Grand Prix series in May, timed 53.90 to be placed behind leader Olga Threshkova of Kazakhstan who led the heat with 53.30.

The Indian's personal best in his event is 51.50.

Twenty-four-year old Manjeet Kaur, Asia champion in Incheon, Korea last year, had timed 53.21 in the Delhi trials prior to the departure for Muscat for a training programme.

The Punjab police official today timed 53.95 be placed second behind Asami Tanno of Japan, who returned 53.94 to lead heat two.

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