At Asian Athletics Championships, India's gold rush continues
Indian athletes continued to make waves at the Asian Athletics Championships on Friday. Long distance runner Gulveer Singh, high jumper Pooja and heptathlete Nandini Agasara shone bright to win gold medals on the penultimate day of the meet in Gumi, South Korea.
Parul Chaudhary claimed silver in a national record time of 9:12.46s in women's 3,000m steeplechase.
After Friday's show, India held on to its second position in the medals tally with eight gold, seven silver and three bronze for a total count of 18. China is on top with 26 medals — 15 gold, 8 silver and 3 bronze.
GULVEER DOES A DOUBLE
One of the first gold medals for India came through Army runner Gulveer, who clocked 13:24.77s in the men's 5,000m event to beat Qatar's Mohamed Al-Garni's Asian championships record of 13:34.47s set in 2015.
Gulveer, a Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist, ran a measured race to become the first Indian in the ongoing edition of the Asian meet to win back-to-back gold. The 26-year-old had won the men's 10,000m gold on the opening day.
'My goal in Gumi was to win the first position in both 5,000m and 10,000m. Though the weather conditions weren't ideal during both events, I stuck to my plan of achieving a good timing,' he said.
Thailand's Kieran Tuntivate was close second with a timing of 13:24.97s, while Japan's Nagiya Mori finished third clocking 13:25.06s. Another Indian in the fray, Abhishek Pal, came sixth with a timing of 13:33.51s.
POOJA CREATES HISTORY
Haryana mason's daughter Pooja created history after becoming only the second Indian woman to win gold in high jump at the Asian level. Bobby Aloysius had won gold way back in 2000, followed by a silver in 2002 edition of the continental meet.
The promising 18-year-old cleared the bar at 1.89m to post a personal best and win the country's second gold of the day. She tried to raise the bar but wasn't able to clear 1.92m in all three attempts.
'It was a good day for me as I was among the champions at the senior continental level,' Pooja said.
NANDINI 3RD INDIAN WOMAN HEPTATHLETE TO WIN GOLD
India's third gold came through Nandini Agasara, who scored a come-from-behind win over China's Liu Jingyi to claim a sensational top podium finish in heptathlon.
The Indian was trailing her Chinese rival by 54 points ahead of the 800m, and made a stunning comeback to secure a total of 5941 points.
Jingyi finished second with 5869 points, while Chinese Taipei's Cai Juan Chen came third accumulating 5608 points. Nandini became only the third Indian woman to win an Asian heptathlon gold after Soma Biswas (2005) and Swapna Barman (2017).
PARUL REWRITES 3000M STEEPLECHASE NATL RECORD
Parul Chaudhary had a good run in women's 3,000m steeplechase, improving the national record to 9:12.96s enroute her silver finish.
'My race strategy was to stay with the leading runner (Norah Jeruto Tanui of Kazakhstan). I tried my best but she surged ahead in the final lap. I am happy to have improved the national record,' Parul said.
MEN'S 4X100M RELAY TEAM DISQUALIFIED
It was a bad day for the men's 4x100m relay team — Manikanta Hoblidar, Amlan Borgohain, Rahul Kumar and Pranav Gurav — as they were disqualified during the heats for baton exchange outside the zone.
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