Seema Punia and Navjeet Dhillon clinched the silver and bronze medal respectively in the women's discuss throw to open India's its account in the athletics competition of the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.
Arpinder Singh and A. V. Rakesh Babu entered the final of the men's triple jump , while Purnima Hembram was sixth at the halfway stage of the heptathlon to make it a successful day for India.
In the first attempt, Seema successfully got past the 60 metre-mark with her best throw of 60.41m to bag silver. This is her fourth successive podium finish in this event at the Games, following silver in both 2006 and 2014, and a bronze at home in Delhi in 2010.
Navjeet managed to throw her best 57.43m in her sixth attempt to sit at the third place.
Australia's Dani Stevens set a new Games record with a Herculean throw of 68.26m to clinch gold.
After throwing 60.41m in the medal clinching attempt, the second attempt saw Seema throwing 59.57. But in the third attempt, Seema fouled and in the fourth she only managed to throw 58.54, managing to stay in the top three. Her fifth attempt was disqualified.
Navjeet, on the other hand, was out of top three from the start, clearing 55.61 in first attempt and 56.22, 54.09 in the fourth and fifth attempt respectively.
She was behind Sositina Hakeai of New Zealand till then but the final attempt saw her throwing her best 57.43m which helped him to move at the third place, replacing the New Zealander. Hakeai best throw of 57.16m came in her third attempt.
In the men's Triple Jump, Arpinder did well during the qualification stage, taking the top spot in Group B to enter the final in style.
The Punjab athlete registered a best attempt of 16.39 metres to finish ahead of Namibia's Roger Haitengi who jumped 16.36m.
Babu on the other hand, finished fifth Group A with 15.98m to advance as one of the 12 best performers.
Arpinder registered 16.39m in his very first attempt which turned out to be his best of the round.
He registered 16.16m with second attempt before fouling the third.
In Group A, Babu started with 15.98m before managing 15.71m with his second jump. He fouled his third jump.
Yordanys Durañona García of Dominica registered the best attempt of the qualification stage.
The Cuban origin athlete jumped a distance of 16.75m to take the top spot in Group A.
He was the only athlete among the total 19 in the two groups to cross the direct qualification mark of 16.60m.
Meanwhile, Purnima finished with 3441 points after the first day of her heptathlon event. She was seventh in the Shot Put and was third in the 200m heat.
Purnima recorded a throw of 11.75m in her first attempt, which was her best in three tries.
In women's 200m Heptathlon-Heat, Purnima finished third with a time of 25.12.
Earlier in the day, Purnima finished second in the 100 metre hurdles heat.
--IANS
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