Asian Games: Shot putter Kiran Baliyan wins India's first athletics medal after 72 years

Kiran Baliyan hurled the iron ball to a distance of 17.36m in her third attempt of the day to open India's medal account becoming the only second Indian woman to win a medal for India in the history of the Shotput event of the Asian Games.

Hangzhou: Indian shotput player Kiran Baliyan created history, becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal in the shotput event in 72 years of the Asian Games. She won a bronze medal on the opening day of competitions here on Friday.

The 24-year-old Baliyan threw the ball to a distance of 17.36m on her third attempt in the best effort of day 6. With that throw, she became the only second Indian woman to win a medal in women's shot put in the Asian Games, after Barbara Webster, an Anglo-Indian from then Bombay, won a bronze in the inaugural edition in New Delhi in 1951

Baliyan has produced the season's as well as personal best of 17.92m while finishing second in the Indian Grand Prix 5 in Chandigarh on September 10.

"I did not know the history. My focus was to produce my best performance. I could not do that and I am not happy with my performance. But I won a medal, so I am very happy," Kiran Baliyan said.

She started with a throw of 15.42m, followed by 16.84m before her best effort in the evening at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium. Kiran hurled the ball to a distance of 16.76m, 16.79m, and 16.87m in her final attempt, but it made no difference to her standings on the podium.

Baliyan started her career after her name was entered in a junior tournament by mistake nine years ago. India's another shotput player, Manpreet Kaur finished fifth with a best throw of 16.25m.