Eldhose Paul led India's historic 1-2 finish in men's triple jump at the Commonwealth Games 2022 as he won a rare gold medal in track and field events and was followed by fellow Kerala athlete Abdulla Aboobacker in Birmingham on Sunday.
Paul produced his best effort of 17.03m in his third attempt while Aboobacker was not behind much as he finished at 17.02m, which he managed in his fifth attempt. Jah-Nhal Perinchief of Bermuda won the bronze with his best jump of 16.92m.
India has won four triple jump medals in the past editions but this is the first time two athletes from the country have got podium finishes.
Mohinder Singh Gill had won a bronze and a silver in 1970 and 1974 editions while Renjith Maheswary and Arpinder Singh had finished third in 2010 and 2014 editions.
The medal haul continued as Annu Rani scripted history as she became the first Indian female javelin thrower to win a medal, a bronze, in the Commonwealth Games. Rani sent the spear to a distance of 60m in her fourth attempt to finish third.
World champion Kelsey-Lee Barber of Australia stole the gold with a final round throw of 64.43m from compatriot Mackenzie Little (64.27m) who was leading at the end of the penultimate round. Before Rani, Kashinath Naik and Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra had won a bronze and a gold in the men's javelin throw respectively.
Naik had won the medal at the 2010 Delhi Games while Chopra won the gold in Gold Coast in 2018. India's Sandeep Kumar won a bronze in the men's 10,000m racewalk event with a personal best time on the penultimate day.
Kumar clocked 38:49.21m to finish behind gold winner Evan Dunfee (38:36.37) of Canada and Declan Tingay (38:42.33) of Australia. The other Indian in the fray, Amit Khatri finished ninth with a season best time of 43:04.97s.
Meanwhile, the Indian women's 4x100m relay team of Dutee Chand, Hima Das, Srabani Nanda and Jyothi Yarraji finished fifth in the final with a timing of 43.81s. Nigeria won gold with 42.10s, England (42.41s) took silver while Jamaica (43.08s) bagged bronze.
