Taiwan Athletics Open 2024: DP Manu secures gold medal; Nithya Ramraj clinches silver
In the Taiwan Athletics Open, the Asian Athletics Championship silver medalist DP Manu put up an impressive show with a throw of 81.58m in the last round to secure the javelin throw gold medal in Taipei on Saturday, June 1.
Notably, DP Manu is placed in the 14th spot on the Road to the Paris Olympics 2024. Interestingly, Manu settled for the sixth position in last year’s World Championships in Budapest, but the World No. 12 had three 80-plus throws in the meet that was part of the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level meet.
Taiwanese track and field athlete Cheng Chao-Tsun, the first Asian to cross the 90m barrier (PB of 91.36m achieved in 2017), settled for the silver medal with a throw of 76.21m in the Taiwan Athletics Open. His compatriot Huang Chao-hung grabbed the bronze medal with 71.24m.
It’s important to note that the javelin throw event will have 32 athletes in the forthcoming Paris Olympics 2024. Nine athletes, including Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena, have secured the automatic qualification, touching the set standard of 85.5m during the qualification period.
However, the athletes who fail to meet the qualification standard will aim to get through to the mega event via the world rankings.
VK Vismaya settles for bronze medal in Taiwan Athletics Open
V.K. Vismaya, who was also a part of the Asian Games 2018 gold-winning women’s 4x400m team, clocked a season-best timing of 53.49 seconds to secure the bronze medal in the women’s 400m event.
Sri Lanka’s Dissanayake Tharushi Karunarathna clinched the gold medal, clocking 52.48s while her compatriot Nadeesha Ramanayake settled for the bronze (53.93). Yi-Cen Chen (53.44s) of Chinese Taipei won the silver medal.
Meanwhile, Nithya Ramraj bagged the silver medal in women’s 100m hurdles after clocking 13.23s. Nithya finished second behind Nia Ali of the USA who won gold with a timing of 12.80s. Bo-Ya Zhang of Chinese Taipei won the bronze in 13.28s.
Furthermore, Rosy Meena Paulraj, the women’s pole vault national record holder (4.21m, 2022), settled for a disappointing sixth position with 3.75m. The Taiwan Athletics Open concludes on Sunday, June 2.