Shot putter Om Prakash Karhana, who won a bronze in the ongoing Asian Championships here today, is still nursing hopes of participating in next month's World Championships in Moscow and is taking part in two events in Europe to try and qualify for the mega event.
A gold here would have automatically book a berth for Moscow but Om Prakash feels he can still qualify for the World Championships.
"I still feel that I can qualify for the World Championships and I am leaving for Europe next week to participate in two events and try to make the cut for Moscow," said Om Prakash who threw 19.45m, his season's best to win a bronze.
It will have to be seen whether Om Prakash can qualify for Moscow considering that he has been struggling all through after he suffered a shoulder injury after the London Olympic Games last year. His season's best after today was 18.91m though his national record stands at 20.69m.
The 'B' standard for World Championships qualification is 20.10m.
"I had not been struggling after I suffered a shoulder injury after London Games and in a way I am satisfied that I won a bronze here," said Om Prakash who had won a gold in the 2009 edition.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games gold medallist discus thrower Krishna Poonia, who finished a disappointing fourth, said that her performance had been affected by the groin injury which she suffered after the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix series in Chonburin Thailand in May.
"I don't want to give excuses but my SDAI doctor at the NIS had told me not to participate here. I had painkiller injection four days back to be able to take part here. I was not able to get a good turn inside the throw circle and so there was no momentum before releasing the disc," she said after she could just managed to hurl the discus to 55.01m, far below her season's best of 59.43m and national record of 64.74m.
