South Korea: India’s impressive run at the 26th Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, continued on the penultimate day, as the country bagged three more gold medals, taking its overall tally to 18 — including eight gold, seven silver, and three bronze. Leading the charge was long-distance runner Gulveer Singh, who shattered a decade-old championship record in the men’s 5000m final with a time of 13:24.77. This win added to his earlier 10,000m gold and placed him among an elite group of Indian athletes to have achieved the double at a single edition of the continental event. Singh’s performance eclipsed the previous record of 13:34.47 set by Qatar’s Mohamed Al-Garni in 2015 and saw him narrowly edge out competitors from Thailand and Japan in a thrilling finish.
Adding to India’s golden day, 18-year-old high-jumper Pooja Singh cleared a personal best of 1.89m to claim top honors ahead of Uzbekistan’s Safina Sadullaeva. Pooja, whose father is a construction worker, has shown consistent growth on the continental stage, having earlier won gold at the 2023 Asian Under-23 Championships. In the heptathlon, Nandini Agasara delivered a strong comeback after a below-par javelin throw to dominate the 800m and secure the gold with 5941 points. She became only the third Indian woman to win an Asian heptathlon title, following in the footsteps of Swapna Barman and Soma Biswas. China’s Liu Jingyi, who led after the javelin event, settled for silver.
Despite the success, there was a slight setback for India in the women’s 3000m steeplechase as defending champion Parul Chaudhary had to settle for silver with a timing of 9:12.46. She was overtaken by Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto Tanui, who clocked 9:10.46, while fellow Kazakh Daisy Jepkemei took bronze. In the men’s 4x100m relay, the Indian team faced disqualification due to a faulty baton exchange outside the takeover zone, violating World Athletics’ Technical Rule 24.7. The Malaysian team also faced a similar fate.
However, there was good news in the javelin throw event as Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh made it to the finals with throws of 79.62m and 76.67m respectively. Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem led the qualifiers with an impressive 86.34m effort in his return to competition. In sprint events, Indian athletes continued to show promise, with women’s 100m hurdles gold medallist Jyothi Yarraji and Nithya Gandhe qualifying for the 200m final, clocking 23.74 and 23.77 seconds respectively. In the men’s 200m semifinals, Animesh Kujur advanced to the final with a strong 20.81-second run. With one day of competition remaining, India looks poised to match or surpass its 27-medal haul from the 2023 edition, already having improved upon last year’s gold medal count.
