Asian Games 2018: Hima Das, Muhammed Anas claim silver in 400m event to cap historic day in athletics

 Jakarta: Hima Das shattered the 400m national record for a second time in two days for a silver while Muhammed Anas grabbed the second place in the same event for men on another good day for India’s track and field athletes in the Asian Games. The silver medal each from Hima and Anas was on expected lines as the gold winners in their respective events were outright pre-race favourites. [caption id=“attachment_5049581” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India’s Hima Das celebrates after her second place finish in the women’s 400m final. AP[/caption] Long distance Govindan Lakshmanan crossed the finishing line at third in men’s 10,000m race but was later disqualified under IAAF 163.3b (lane infringement). He was initially shown to have clocked 29:44.91. India did lodge a protest against the decision to disqualify Lakshmanan but the jury of appeals rejected it. India’s new track sensation, Hima clocked 50.59 seconds to win the silver, behind Bahrain’s Salwa Naser who won the gold in a new Games record time of 50.09 seconds. Hima, the reigning Under-20 world champion, had qualified for the final with a national record time of 51.00 seconds yesterday, bettering the 14-year-old mark set by Manjeet Kaur (51.05) in Chennai in 2004, and she on Sunday bettered it again. Naser, the Nigerian-born 2017 World Championships silver medallist and winner of four legs of Diamond League Series this year, did not have to exert much in the end to clinch the goal. Another Indian in the women’s 400m final, Nirmala Sheoran finished fourth in 52.96. It was India’s first medal in women’s 400m since Manjeet Kaur won a silver at the 2006 Doha edition. Asian champion Anas settled with a silver in the men’s 400m final as he timed 45.69 seconds, behind Asian season leader and 2017 World Championships bronze medallist Hassan Abdalelah of Qatar, who clocked in 44.89 seconds. Anas, who holds the national record of 45.24, had clocked 45.30 in the preliminary heats. Arokia Rajiv finished fourth by clocking 45.84 which was better than his semifinals (46.08) timing. “I don’t know what happened to me in the final. I could have run better but I am happy with silver,” said and out-of-breath Anas. “I had aimed for a medal at the Asian Games and I have achieved that. Abdalelah won easily. I will see viedo to analyse what went wrong,” the Kerala athlete said and dedicated his medal to people back home, who are struggling with a devastating flood. Anas said he may pull out of men’s 200m event to prepare for the newly-introduced 400m mixed relay. In men’s long jump, Murali Sreeshankar finished sixth with a best effort of 7.95m. Meanwhile, Dutee Chand qualified for the women’s 100m final by clocking 11.43 in semifinal 1. She finished third behind Olga Safronova (11.42) and Bahrain’s Hajar Alkhaldi (11.42). Hajar pipped Dutee for the second spot in a photo-finish after finishing the dash with same timing. The timing was slower than her semifinal (11.38) and her own national record (11.29). Asian Championship silver medallist Anu Raghavan qualified for the final of the women’s 400m hurdles final. The 25-year-old from Kerala was third fastest in Heat 2 and also overall third with a timing of 56.77. Joining her in the final was compatriot Jauna Murmu (59.20) as the last best loser. Anu had won a silver at the Asian Championship held in Bhubaneswar.