Gowda makes it to discus final

Mysore-born, 28-year-old Vikas thus became the first Indian man to enter the medal-round in World Championships history with a 63.99-metre effort in the qualifying round, even as many of his rivals struggled in the heat.

“I didn’t know that, it’s nice, really nice,” said Vikas, when told of his feat. It was a sweet moment for the discus thrower for another reason as his finals entry coincided with the National Sports Day, when the sports awards were presented in New Delhi by President Pratibha Patil.

Vikas was among  the Arjuna awardees this year but could not make it to the presentation ceremony which clashed with the World Championships.  “It would have been nice to be there, but it came at the same time as this meet,” said Vikas.

The Indian record holder at 64.96M, Vikas didn’t have to stretch that much to progress past the qualifying phase for Tuesday’s final. None of the 32 competitors across two groups managed to cross the automatic qualification mark of 65.50 and as such, the top 12 went through. Vikas was fourth in his group (Group A) and eighth overall.

Vikas’ best effort came in the second round after he opened with a 62.37. He had a 61.85 in the third round. “I can do lot more than that but today was about qualifying for the final.”

The Commonwealth Games silver medallist was happy he had made it to the final after faltering at the qualifying stage in two previous World Championships appearances.
“The experience of competing in Asian Games and Asian Championships has helped me.”

Poland’s European champion Piotr Malachowski, who was in Group B, headed the list of qualifiers with a 65.48m throw. Asian champion Ehsan Hadadi of Iran (65.21), defending champion Robert Harting of Germany (64.93) and former Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna (64.21) of Lithuania were among those progressing while Zoltan Kovago of Hungary crashed out.

Kovago had thrown 69.50 at Budapest in July to top the season’s charts.