Abraham`s London dreams over despite winning gold

Almaty (Kazakhstan): Asian Games gold medallist Joseph Abraham`s London Olympics dreams were dashed on Saturday despite winning a gold medal in the men`s 400m hurdles on the first day of the Asian All Star Athletics Meet.

Abraham, also a national record holder, clocked 50.22s to finish first in men`s 400m hurdles but his effort was way below the London Games qualifying `B` standard of 49.80secs. Dimitriy Koblov (50.64s) and Viktor Leptikov (50.86s) -- both from Kazakhstan -- were second and third respectively. Another national record holder and London Olympics-bound Tintu Luka finished third in the women`s 800m, clocking 2:01.71s. Apart from Abraham and Tintu, no other Indian won any medal on Saturday. Another London Games-bound athlete, Sahana Kumari finished fifth in women`s high jump with a below par effort of 1.85m. She had cleared 1.92m in the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Hyderabad last week to make the London bus.