Asian Athletics Championships: India finished third with 27 medals
Abha Khatua sprung a surprise on the final day of the Asian Athletics Championships in women’s shot put by equaling a national record throw of 18.06m to clinch a silver medal while Jyoti Yaraji and Parul Chowdhary won their second medals in the event here on Sunday. India finished third in the competition with 27 medals. Abha improved her previous personal best performance of 17.13 m by almost one meter (93 cm) to throw the four kg shot put to a distance of 18.06 m in her fourth attempt. Abha’s second best effort was 17.10m. China’s Song Jiayuan (18.88m) won the gold medal in this event. Abha equaled the national record set by veteran Manpreet Kaur, who on Sunday managed a 17m effort to win the bronze medal. Apart from six gold, India also won 12 silver and nine bronze medals in the competition.
India won a total of 13 medals with eight silver and five bronze medals on the final day of the competition. On Thursday, Jyoti, who became the first Indian to win gold in 100m hurdles at the Asian Championships, also won a silver in 200m with a personal best timing of 23.13s. Singapore’s Shanti Perera finished second in the event with a timing of 22.70 seconds. Earlier, Jyoti’s personal best performance was 23.29 seconds, which she did in the semi-finals. He had won the gold medal in the Federation Cup in May with a timing of 23.42 seconds. Long distance ace Parul Chowdhary also won her second medal with a silver in the 5000m race. Parul, who had won gold in 3000m steeplechase on Friday, settled for silver in 5000m with a timing of 15:52.35. Japan’s Yuma Yamamoto topped the event with a time of 15:51.16.
Parul holds the national record of 15 minutes 10.35 seconds in the 5000 meters event. Ankita won the bronze medal in the same event with a timing of 16 minutes 3.33 seconds. Gulveer Singh managed to win the bronze medal in the men’s 5000 meters with a timing of 13:48.33. In men’s javelin throw, DP Manu won the silver with an effort of 81.01m. In the current season, Manu is the best performer among Asian javelin throwers after Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra. His best effort in the current season has been 84.33m. Here, however, he was able to take the javelin more than 80 meters in his last attempt. His other efforts were 78.22m, 79.83m, 78.78m, and 75.35m with one foul. Roderick Genki of Japan won the gold medal with an effort of 83.15m. In the men’s 4x400m relay, the team of Amoj Jacob, Mohammad Ajmal, Mizo Kurian Chacko and Rajesh Ramesh finished second with a timing of 3:1.80 seconds and won the silver medal.
The Sri Lankan team won the gold medal with a timing of 3:1.56. The team of Rejoana Malik Heena, Aishwarya Mishra, Jyoti Dandi and Subha Venkatesan won the bronze medal in the women’s 4x400m relay with a timing of 3:33.73. Vietnam won the gold with a timing of 3:32.36 while Sri Lanka won the silver with a timing of 3:33.27. Earlier, Kishan Kumar and KM Chanda won silver medals in the men’s and women’s 800m races respectively with their personal best performances. Kishan clocked 1:45.88 to finish second behind Qatar’s Abubakar H Abdala (1:45.53). Chanda clocked 2:1.58 in the women’s 800m race. MK Dissanayaka of Sri Lanka topped the table with a timing of 2:0.66. Kishan’s earlier personal best was 1:46.17s while Chanda’s was 2:1.58s. In the morning session, Priyanka Goswami and Vikas Singh also won silver and bronze medals in the women’s and men’s 20 km race walk respectively.
National record holder Priyanka clocked 1:34:24 to finish second behind China’s Yang Liujing (1:32:37) in the women’s 20km race walk. Japan’s Yukiko Umeno won the bronze medal with a time of 1:36:17. Priyanka’s personal best time, however, is 1:28:45. Bhawna Jat, another Indian competing in the event, finished fifth with a timing of 1 hour, 38 minutes and 26 seconds. In the men’s 20 km race walk, Vikas clocked one hour, 29 minutes and 32 seconds to clinch the bronze medal. Japan’s Yutaro Murayama (1:24:40) won the gold, while China’s Wang Kaihua (1:25:29) won the silver. India’s national record holder Akshdeep Singh could not finish the race as he was disqualified by the judges. The best development time is one hour 20 minutes and five seconds. This is his first medal at the international level. Priyanka, who won a silver medal in the 10km race walk at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and Vikas have already qualified for the World Championships to be held in Budapest, Hungary from August 17 to 29, and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
