Arpinder bags triple jump gold, ends our 48-yr wait

Jakarta: A dehydrated Arpinder Singh on Wednesday ended India's 48-year wait for a gold in triple jump at the Asian Games with an effort of 16.77 m even as he had aimed at shattering the national record here. India's last Asian Games gold medal in men's triple jump had come in 1970 from Mohinder Singh Gill.

Arpinder, who has been without a medal in multi-sporting events since winning a bronze in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, produced his best jump of 16.77 m in his third attempt. The 25-year old said that his performance dipped because of training in the UK, where he could not adjust to new training methods.

Ruslan Kurbanov of Uzbekistan took the silver with a best jump of 16.62 m while Shuo Cao of China was third with an effort of 16.56 m.

"It's gold, so it's okay but I wanted to go better than the national record. I was dehydrated after three jumps, that's why there were fouls after that. The performance was going up and down. My calves were hurting," Arpinder said. He said he endured a tough time after winning the bronze at the 2014 Glasgow CWG.

"I left for UK for training under John Herbert. However, it led to a dip in form. My coaching style, food, everything changed. Even the weather was different so my performance went down. I had to cook myself and ride a bicycle 7-km one side." Arpinder said he was initiated to athletics by his father."My dad was a kabaddi player in the army. He wanted me to continue playing sports."