Shakti, Neelam win gold

National champion shot-putter Shakti Singh heaved the iron ball to 19.77 metres to win a deserving gold while compatriot woman discuss thrower Neelam J Singh followed him in winning another as India took the first day's honours at the Asian Track and Field meet in Jakarta on Monday.

Though both returned with performances well below their personal bests, the effort was an impressive start to the championship being held with next month's Sydney Olympic Games in sight.

India, with two gold and two silver medals, led the medal chart followed by superpowers China (1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze) and Japan (0-1-2).

Shakti Singh struck gold with an effort below his national mark of 20.09 metres and tuned himself well for the coming Olympic Games.

Qatar's Bilal Saad Mubarak (19.23m) settled for silver while China's Wen Jili (18.18m) took the bronze.

Neelam J Singh hurled the discus to 60.75 metres in the women's event to give much-deserved 'kick start' to the Indian athletes' preparations. The Indian national champion was followed by Chinese pair of Qi Cao (58.71m) and Li Yanfeng (57.52m) in the second and third positions respectively.

The elegant thrower's effort was though below her national mark of 61.41m achieved in February this year.

Distance runner L Aruna Devi broke a long-standing national record in women's 10,000 metres when she clinched the silver in 34 minutes 31.15 seconds.

Aruna Devi's excellent run erased Poonam Taneja's record of 34:33.93 seconds, set in 1991.

Sutono Supriaty of Indonesia (33:47.24) won the gold while North Korean Hui Hong Myong (35:27.50) settled for the bronze.

Long distance runner Gulab Chand brought in the other silver with a second place finish in the men's race for the same distance.

Gulab Chand clocked 30 mins 03.75 secs, but his timing left Hari Chand's the national record (28:48.72), set at the Montreal Olympics, untouched.

Qatar's Ahmed Ibrahim won the gold with a timing of 29 mins 53.00 secs while China's Ke Gong (30:05.11) took the bronze.

Meanwhile, the Indians also excelled in the heats for Tuesday's events.

In the men's 400 metres, India's best bets, Paramjit Singh and P Ramachandran, got through their heats comfortably.

Women's quarter miler K M Beenamol also finished on top in the heats reserving the best lane for herself.

In the 100 metres dash, both Rajiv Balakrishnan and Anil Kumar, made it to the next round. The top two in each heat plus the next six best times will be taken into account.

Amidst the euphoria of Shakti Singh's golden effort there was gloom when shot-putter Bahadur Singh failed to fetch a medal.

Bahadur Singh was tipped for silver, but after his four efforts were deemed fouls, it unsettled him and he was unable to keep his foot in position.