DP Manu wins gold in javelin throw at Taiwan Open

NEW DELHI: India's DP Manu clinched the gold medal in men's javelin throw event at the Taiwan Open 2024 with an effort of 81.58m in Taipei on Saturday.

The Asian Athletics Championship silver medallist registered his best throw in his last attempt. Taiwan Open is a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level meet and awards crucial ranking points.

Manu started with a 78.32m throw, while his second attempt measured 76.80m.

But the 24-year-old improved his efforts sending the spear to 80.59m and 81.52m in his third and fifth attempt respectively. He could not register a valid attempt in his fourth throw but finished strong.

The performance was, however, far from Manu's personal best of 84.35m.

It is also less than his season-best effort of 82.06, which he had come up with last month at the Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar when he had finished second behind Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra.

Manu, who finished sixth at the World Championships last year, is yet to qualify for the Paris Olympics, the qualification mark for which is 85.50m.

Chopra and Kishore Jena have already qualified for the Olympics.

Meanwhile, Nithya Ramraj ran 13.23 seconds to finish second in the women's 100m hurdle event. She ran a personal best of 13.12 seconds during the heat race earlier in the day.

In the women's 400m final, VK Vismaya took the third spot, clocking 53.49 seconds.

The Federation Cup winner Rosy Meena took the sixth spot with an effort of 3.75m in the women's pole vault event.