Rio Olympics 2016: Disappoint for India on first day of track and field

It was a disappointing start for India in athletics events of the Rio Olympics as all the four competitors, including discus thrower Vikas Gowda, failed to put up a creditable performance on Friday.

Gowda and women’s shot putter Manpreet Kaur fell by the wayside at the qualification stage itself while Jinson Johnson could not qulaify for the semifinals in the morning session.

Later in the day, Manish Singh Rawat finished 13th while his two other compatriots Gurmeet Singh and Krishnan Ganapathi were disqualified early in the men’s 20km race walk road event.

The 33-year-old Gowda, in his fourth straight Olympics, produced an utterly below-par performance with a best throw of 58.99m to finish 28th overall out of 34 competitors. He finished 16th in a field of 18 in Group B qualification round. Gowda, who holds the national record of 66.28m, had come into the Olympics without taking part in any competition this year due to a shoulder injury. He had last taken part in a competition in September last year in the ISTAF Meet in Berlin.

The Mysore-born US-based Indian, the reigning Asian champion, began with a 57.59m and improved by more than a metre to 58.99m in his second throw before producing a 58.70m in his third and final attempt. This has been the worst performance for Gowda, who won a gold in the 2014 Commonwealth Games and a silver in the 2014 Asian Games, in his four appearances at the Olympics.

He had failed to qualify for the final round in 2004 and 2008 Olympics but made it to final round to eventually finish eighth at the 2012 London Games. “My performance was not very good today. Frustrating. Just had a lot of bad luck this year. Lot of injuries. Was not able to train until three-four weeks ago. Obviously, that was not enough time to prepare,” Gowda said.“I tore both quad-tendons of my knees. Right above the kneecap, earlier in the year. It did progress, so I had to take a break from training. So, not enough enough time.”

Favourite Piotr Malachowski of Poland topped the qualification round with a best throw of 65.89m, followed by Lukas Weisshaidinger (65.86m) of Austria and Christoph Harting (65.41m) of Germany. Reigning Olympic champion Robert Harting of Germany, who battled injuries in his build-up to the Olympics, failed to qualify for the final round as he finished 15th overall with a best throw of 62.21m.

The qualifying mark for the final round was set at a high of 65.50m or at least 12 best performers. In women’s shot put, national record holder Manpreet finished a disappointing 23rd overall out of 35 competitors with a best throw if 17.06m. She finished 13th in Group B qualifying round.