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Indian discus thrower Vikas Gowda has bagged the silver medal in the IAAF Diamond League Series in Doha, thus becoming the first Indian to do so at the high profile series.
With a throw of 63.23m, Gowda finished second behind Poland’s Piotr Malachowski, who secured gold with a throw of 66.72m. Estonia’s Gerd Kanter took home the bronze medal with 62.90.
Gowda’s achievement is even more impressive considering he finished second in a field containing Asian record-holder Ehsan Hadadi, who could only garner seventh place.
Born in Mysore, Gowda had won his first gold medal in the 2013 Asian Championships which was held in Pune with a throw of 64.90 metres, and achieved his personal best of 66.90 in the same year which is also the national record. He had also won bronze at the 2010 Asian Games and silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, both of which he will attempt to defend this year.
The Diamond League, a series of 14 meets in a year in which points are earned by the medal winners for the ‘diamond race’, attracts the very best athletes from across the globe. While Gowda will likely not participate in all the Diamond League meets this year considering he will be focusing on the Asian and Commonwealth Games, his performance at the Doha event is certainly a fantastic feather in his cap.
In the women’s 800m category, India’s Tintu Luka completed her race in the sixth position with a timing of 2:00:56 while Kenya’s Eunice Jepkoech Sum clocked 1:59:33 to finish first.
