Gowda finishes seventh in World Athletics Championships

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Moscow: India's Vikas Gowda settled for a seventh-place finish with a moderate throw in the 14th IAAF World Athletics Championships here today.Gowda, the Asian champion and national record holder, hurled the discus to 64.03m which he achieved in his fourth attempt. He had cleared 64.90m in the Asian Championships in Pune last month.The United States-based Indian's series read 63.41, foul throw, 62.20, 64.03, 63.67 and 63.64. His national record stands at 66.28m.2012 London Olympics champion Robert Harting of Germany won his third World Championships title on the trot with a best throw of 69.11m to continue his domination at the world stage.Piotr Malachowsky of Poland was second with a best throw of 68.36m while 2008 Beijing Olympics gold winner Gerd Kanter of Estonia took the third spot with 65.19m.Earlier in the day, Khusbir Kaur finished a distant 39th but still improved on her own national record in the women's 20km Race Walk event.The 20-year-old Kushbir clocked 1 hour 34 minutes and 28 seconds to finish 39th in the 62-athlete field, cutting down three minutes from her earlier national mark of 1:37:28 which she created in Patiala last year.2012 London Olympics champion and world record holder Elena Lashmanova of Russia won the gold in 1:27:08, around two minutes outside his world mark of 1:25:02.Another Russian and last edition World Championships bronze medallist Anisya Kirdyapkina took the silver in 1:27:11 while China's Hong Liu, who had won silver in the last edition, came third in 1:28:10.Tomorrow, two Indians -- Basanta Bahadur Rana and Sandeep Kumar -- will take part in the men's 50km Race Walk event.