New Delhi: Nitin Gupta was leading the U-18 boys 5,000m race-walk final, but early celebration cost him a gold medal at the Asian Youth Athletics Championship in Dammam, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
As Nitin raised his arm in celebration about 40 metres from the finish, China’s Zhu Ninghao sneaked past to win, giving a valuable lesson to the Indian. Zhu won in 20 minutes, 21.50 secs while Gupta took silver (20:21.51secs). Lo Sheng Qin of Chinese Taipei was third (21:37.88).
Aarti took a creditable bronze in the girls’ 100m. The Indian was slow off the blocks but brilliantly picked up pace to finish third (11.93secs) despite stumbling on the line. China’s Zhang Qian (11.80secs) and Sri Lanka’s Dhanajana Swmini Fernando Liyanage (11.92secs) won gold and silver.
The day started with Nitin’s medal. It was not the first time that Nitin was celebrating prematurely. The 17-year-old is in the habit of doing it in domestic meets where he has been dominant. He won gold at the National Youth Athletics Championships in Patna in similar fashion last month. He bettered his national record in the boys’ 5,000m, clocking 19:24.48 secs.
Nitin was in tears when he spoke to his coach Basant Rana, a former international and Army’s race walk coach.
“He was gutted. He learnt his lesson today, in a big competition. When you are fighting neck-and-neck you can’t afford to do this,” said Rana, who took part in the 2012 London Olympics.
“In domestic competitions, when he celebrated early there was enough distance from his opponent. Usually he wins by a long margin at home. Three times he has broken his own national record (U18) since last year. Today, when he created that small gap with the Chinese walker, he must have thought he had done enough. I told him to take it as a lesson and not repeat this mistake.”
Nitin, who hails from Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, was selected to the Army Sports Institute two years ago. Hailing from a humble background, Nitin trained in a local academy before joining the Boys Sports Company of ASI.
“He is very motivated. He has come up the hard way in life. He has done small jobs to keep himself going. After he was selected by ASI, he has worked hard and consistently improved,” said Rana.
Tannu wins 400m silver
In the women’s 400m final, Tannu won silver with a brilliant late surge. India’s Edwina Jason looked well placed to finish on the podium, while Tannu stormed from behind in the home stretch, clocking 57.63secs. Japan’s Imamine Saki (57.27) won gold while China’s Deng Nanxi (58.01secs) got bronze. Edwina finished fifth.
India’s other medal came in discus throw. Nischay took bronze with a best throw of 58.85m. China’s Han Qigeng (63.33m) and Wan Zhixuan (63.01) won gold and silver respectively. In the boys’ 400m final, India’s Sayed Sabeer finished sixth (49.33secs).
