Asian Games 2018: Silver stars!

Jakarta: Hima Das and Muhammed Anas won a silver each in women’s and men’s 400m while Star Indian sprinter Dutee Chand also clinched a silver in women’s 100m dash as Indian athletes continued their strong show in the Asian Games here on Sunday.

Meanwhile, China’s Su Bingtian gave world junior champion Lalu Muhammad Zohri a taste of what it’s like to race against men.

The fastest man in Asia was the hot favorite for the Asian Games gold medal in the 100 meters, but the crowd in Jakarta was there to support their 18-year-old local hope from the nearby earthquake-ravaged island of Lombok.

Su took command early and controlled the race with 40 meters to go, finishing in a games record 9.92 seconds — one-hundredth outside his continental mark.

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.

For Hima, it was her second national record in two days as she clocked 50.59 seconds to win the silver, behind Bahrain’s Salwa Naser who won the gold in a new Games record time 50.09 seconds.

Hima had qualified for the final with a national record time 51.00 seconds on Saturday, bettering the 14-year-old mark set by Manjeet Kaur (51.05) in Chennai in 2004.

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.

In men’s 400m final, Anas clocked 45.69 seconds to clinch the silver. The gold was won by Hassan Abdalelah of Qatar in 44.89 seconds.

Meanwhile, Running in lane number 7, Dutee clocked 11.32 seconds, a tad below her national record of 11.29 seconds.

Odiong Edidiong of Bahrain won the gold in 11.30 while Wei Yongli of China took the bronze in 11.33 in a close finish.

The 22-year-old from Odisha was taking part in her first Asian Games. She was suspended by the IAAF in 2014 under its hyperandrogenism policy but she filed an appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sports and won it.

Recently, under a revised rule of the IAAF, Dutee was left outside the purview of the hyperandrogenism policy which gave her liberty to pursue her career.