Asian Athletics Championships 2019: Swapna Barman bags silver in women's heptathlon; Jinson Johnson pulls out with injury

Doha: Asian Games gold medallist and defending champion Swapna Barman settled for a silver in women’s heptathlon while top medal contender Jinson Johnson pulled out of the men’s 1500m race on the third and penultimate day of the Asian Athletics Championships on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old Barman logged 5993 aggregate points from the seven events to finish second behind Ekaterina Vornina (6198 points) of Uzbekistan, while Purnima Hembram, the other Indian in the fray, was fifth with 5528 points.

Barman’s aggregate points on Tuesday was more than the 5942 she had logged while winning the gold in the last edition of the continental meet in 2017 but was less than the 6026 that she had accumulated in the Asian Games in Jakarta last year.

Swapna Barman recorded 6.01m in her third try in long jump to close the gap with the heptathlon leaders Ekaterina Vornina (Uzbekistan) & Wang Qungling (China) after the fifth event. Ekaterina has 4380 points, Wang 4375 & Swapna 4374. Purnima Hembram (4154) is fifth #AAC2019 #Doha pic.twitter.com/QYalDzdxB2

— G Rajaraman (@g_rajaraman) April 23, 2019

With the silver from Barman, India’s medal count now stands at two golds, four silvers and five bronze medals.

In women’s 3000m steeple chase, Parul Choudhary clocked personal best of 10:03.43 to finish fifth in the final.

Swapna Barman has cleared 1.71m while Purnima Hembram's high jump competition ended with a best of 1.68m after three failures at 1.71 in the heptathlon #AAC2019 #Doha Only four jumpers have gone over 1.71m and Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Vornina, jumping in Group A has cleared 1.83m. pic.twitter.com/Cn9O8L1zzG

— G Rajaraman (@g_rajaraman) April 22, 2019

Earlier in the day, India suffered a setback after Johnson pulled out of the 1500m race due to injury just hours before the Round 1 heats.

“His left calf muscle is troubling him at the moment. Doctors have advised him not to compete in such situation,” deputy chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair said in a statement.

Johnson did not also compete his 800m final race on Monday. He holds national records in both 800m and 1500m.

On the opening day on Sunday, Hima Das had pulled out of the 400m race due to a lower back spasm while the likes of star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and national record holder 400m hurdler Dharun Ayyasamy and long jumper M Sreeshankar missed out of the championships due to injuries.