The Indian men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams as well as javelin thrower Shivpal Singh failed to reach the finals of their respective events at the World Championships in Doha on Saturday. Meanwhile, Gopi Thonakal clocked 2:15:57 to finish 21st out of 73 competitors in the men’s marathon.
The women’s quartet of Jisna Mathew, MR Poovamma, VK Vismaya and Venkatesan Subha clocked 3 minutes 29.42 seconds to finish sixth in the heat number one and 11th overall in the first round heats. Later, the men’s team of Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Anas, K Suresh Jeevan and Noah Nirmal Tom ran 3:03.09 to finish seventh in heat number 2 and 13th overall out of 16 countries.
The top three in each of the two heats and the next two fastest teams qualify for the finals.
The women’s quartet, however, bettered their earlier season’s best of 3:31.93 clocked during the IAAF World Relays in Yokohama, Japan, in May.
Earlier, Shivpal Singh also failed to qualify for the finals of the men’s javelin throw event as he finished 24th overall in the qualification round.
Shivpal produced a best throw of 78.97m from his three attempts to finish 10th in the Group A qualification round. The 24-year-old Indian, who has a personal and season’s best of 86.23m, opened with a 75.91m before coming up with 78.97m. His third attempt was a foul.
Those who touched the automatic qualifying mark of 84m or the 12 best performers make it to the finals.
Defending champion Johannes Vetter of Germany led the finalists with a best throw of 89.35m.
With PTI Inputs
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