Tejinder Pal Singh Toor set aside the disappointment of not being able to attend his cancer-ridden father, shattering the Asian Games record to open India’s gold medal account even as several national records tumbled on the opening day of the athletics competition.
Toor hurled the iron ball a distance of 20.75 metres to smash the previous Games record.
The previous mark of 20.57m was set by Aboulmajeed Alhabashi of Saudi Arabia at the 2010 Asiad in Guangzhou, China.
China’s Liu Yang was a distant second with his season’s best throw of 19.52m. Ivan Ivanov of Kazakhstan took bronze with 19.40m.
This is the eighth gold medal for India in men’s shot put in the history of the Asian Games.
Toor dominated the final right from the start but reserved his best for the very last attempt.
The tall, burly 23-year-old from Punjab had taken the lead with an effort of 19.96 metres in his first attempt. He threw 19.15 in his second attempt but fouled his third throw.
The fourth attempt saw the Indian clock yet another 19.96m before he simply blew away the competition with his last attempt.