Anas sets 400m NR for gold and qualifies for Worlds, Hima wins again

Mohammad Anas and Hima Das

New Delhi: Mohammad Anas bettered his own national record in men's 400m to clinch a gold and qualify for the World Championships while Hima Das won the women's 200m event for her third international triumph in less than two weeks at the Kladno Athletics Meet in Czech Republic.

Anas, 24, clocked 45.21 seconds as he won an easy race, finishing nearly one second ahead of silver-winner Omelko Rafal (46.19) of Poland on Saturday night. Apart from re-writing his earlier national record of 45.24 seconds, which he recorded last year, he also qualified for the World Athletics Championships to be held in Doha from September 27 to October 6. The 400m qualification time for the World Championships is 45.30s.

In the women's 200m race, Hima clocked a much improved 23.43 seconds to win the gold. She has a personal best of 23.10 sec. This was her third international gold in 11 days. In her first competitive 200m race of the year, the Assam teenager had clocked 23.65 seconds on her way to gold at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland on July 2. After that, Hima, 19, won her second 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet, also in Poland, on July 7, clocking 23.97s.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Indian trio of Vipin Kasana, Abhishek Singh and Davinder Singh Kang took the top three spots in men's javelin final with efforts of 82.51m, 77.32m and 76.58m respectively.

In men's shot put event, NR holder Tejinder Pal Singh Toor's best throw was 20.36m to win bronze. He held the NR of 20.75m. In the women's 400m, VK Vismaya clocked her personal best of 52.54 seconds to win the race. Saritaben Gayakwad was third with 53.37.

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