Shot putter Inderjeet qualifies for Worlds final

Inderjeet Singh delivered a brilliant performance to become the first Indian to qualify for the shot put final at the World Championships being held at the Bird's Nest here on Sunday.

In the Group A qualifier, Inderjeet disappointed with a throw of 19.15 metres in his first attempt and was disqualified in his second attempt.

However, the Asian champion made a strong come back to make it count on his third and final chance with a throw of 20.47m which was enough to finish fourth in Group A and qualify for the final, which will be held later in the day.

Seven competitors qualified from Group A while five entered the final 12 via Group B. Overall, Inderjeet finished eighth as the qualifiers were topped by American Joe Kovacs who threw a distance of 21.36 metres.

Inderjeet, whose personal best is also his season's best (20.65m), had also won a bronze at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

Later in the 20 km race walk, India's Baljinder Singh finished a creditable 12th, clocking his personal best time of one hour, 21 minutes and 44 seconds. The race was won by Miguel Lopez in 1:19:14, which is also the Spaniard's personal best.

Baljinder's compatriots Gurmeet Singh finished 36th in 1:25:22 while Chandan Singh was 42nd in 1:26:40.

Out of the 61 participants, five were disqualified while five failed to finish.