It’s Sunday wonday in athletics!

Tajinderpal Singh Toor after his win yesterday. Pic/Ashwin Ferro

India's burly shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor defended his title in style with a throw of 20.36m at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre here on Sunday.

Toor, who began with two fouls, was under pressure with his third throw and later admitted that he only wanted to ensure he got a legal throw in and managed a 19.51. Saudi Arabia's A Daouda Mohamed then put Toor under pressure again, by throwing a 20.18 in his fourth attempt. Toor fell short with a 20.06 in his fourth and seemed visibly worried before making matters worse with a foul fifth throw. Eventually, however, he got the gold medal-winning throw in his sixth and final attempt. Mohamed registered a 19.47 and 19.83 in his fifth and sixth throws.

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"After the first two fouls, my third throw was under pressure. And then I was under pressure again before my last throw," Toor, 28, said after his win.
Injuries have been a constant for the six feet four Punjab athlete. In July 2022 he sustained a groin injury during a training camp in Chula Vista, USA, and did not compete at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Two years before that, he broke his left wrist and couldn't throw for three months. After competing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, he underwent wrist surgery in September 2021, returning to competition only in February 2022. He admitted that coping with the long streak of injuries has been painful. "When the Olympics came around, I had a wrist issue. Then, last year when the World Championships were going to take place, I suffered a groin injury. This season too, I was looking good to throw a 22-plus, but the groin started troubling me again.

Somehow, I've not been able to prove myself on the world stage. Even before this competition, I had a Grade 3 muscle pull, so I stopped throwing and training. I could only manage three or four training sessions before coming here. My 20.36 here is not my best, but I wanted this gold medal. I was determined to hear my national anthem play," he said.