Dilshod Nazarov (© Getty Images)
Tadjikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov and China’s Wang Zheng provided an Asian influence on proceedings at the 2014 Moscow Challenge, the latest round of the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge, with victories in the Russian capital on Wednesday (11).
Nazarov, fifth at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in the same city, launched his implement out to 79.20m in the fifth round to come from behind and overtake Belarusian Pavel Kryvitski by almost a metre.
Kryvitski had thrown 78.22m in the second round but followed up that effort with four fouls.
“I was very nervous before the sixth attempt by Kryvitski and even kept my fingers crossed,” Nazarov told Rusathletics.com. “Overall I am satisfied. This result puts me second in the overall challenge standings, and that is the most important thing for me”.
Third position went to local thrower Denis Lukyanov. Supported by the home crowd, he threw 77.03m with his fifth attempt.
Like Nazarov, Wang also finished just out of the medals 10 months ago in the Luzhniki Stadium with fourth place at the World Championships, but still retains a fondness for the facility.
She threw an Asian record of 77.68m on home soil in Chengdu back in March and although Wang was well adrift of her world-leading mark on this occasion, she was also well ahead of her nearest rivals.
After a first-round foul, the 2013 Asian champion threw 72.84m in the second round, improved to 73.10m in the fifth round and then reached 73.89m with her last throw.
All four of her valid throws were better than Russia’s second-placed Mariya Bespalova, who was second. The local thrower opened with 71.89m but couldn’t improve.
Sadly, Russia’s world and Olympic champion Tatyana Lysenko was off-form and later said she was ending her season.
She made only two desultory attempts by her own high standards and withdrew from the competition after her second effort of 61.09m, eventually placing 14th and last.
“I have been competing non-stop for three years running, and now I am very tired,” reflected Lysenko.
“The Moscow (World) Championships were very hard, I feel exhausted. We decided with my coach to take a pause for rest and proper training, so I will not compete this summer, recover and treat my health problems, and later start getting ready for the 2016 Rio Olympics,” said Lysenko.
The next IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge event will be for both men and women in Ostrava, Czech Republic, next Tuesday (17).
Natalia Maryanchik for the IAAF
