Tejaswin Shankar leads after day 1 of heptathlon at Asian Indoor C''ships

Tianjin (China), Feb 7 (PTI) Asian Games medallist and national record holder Tejaswin Shankar tightened his grip over gold medal on day-one of heptathlon event at the 12th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships here on Saturday.

After four events on day one of heptathlon, the 27-year-old is leading the field with a total of 3513 points with China’s Zihui Hua in second place with 3241 points.

Shankar, the national record holder in decathlon, began his day on a promising note, collecting 844 points with a time of 7.11 seconds, a personal best, in the 60m dash.

While he recorded 7.53m in the long jump to add 942 points to his tally. In shot put, his best performance was 13.63m which earned him 706 points.

In high jump, the fourth and last event on day one of heptathlon, the Indian athlete recorded a season best of 2.23m to collect 1021 points to move to top of the table.

The remaining three events-- 60m hurdles, pole vault and 1,000m in that order -- will take place on the final day on Sunday.

In the women’s 60m dash, India’s Nithya Gandhe finished a creditable seventh with a personal best of 7.49 seconds.

Earlier in heats, she clocked 7.50 seconds to qualify for the final.

On the final day, India’s two heavy weights -- Tejinderpal Singh Toor and Samardeep Singh Gill -- will be in action in men’s shot put event.

Asian Games medallist Ancy Sojan will be competing in the women's long jump event. PTI APA APA UNG