Asian Athletics: Gulveer wins gold in men's 10,000m; bronze for race walker Sebastian
Gulveer Singh opened India's gold medal account with a top finish in the
men's 10,000m
event while Servin Sebastian clinched a bronze in
20km race walk
on the opening day of the
Asian Athletics Championships
here on Tuesday. The 26-year-old Singh, a bronze-medallist at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and a pre-race favourite, clocked 28 minute 38.63 seconds to win his maiden Asian Championships gold.
Japan's Mebuki Suzuki (28:43.84) took the silver while Bahrain's Albert Kibichi Rop (28:46.82) won the bronze. Another Indian the fray, Sawan Barwal finished fourth with a time of 28:50.53.
Earlier in the day, Servin Sebastian claimed India's first medal with a bronze in the men's 20km race walk event, clocking 1 hour 21 minute and 13.60 seconds.
There was disappointment, though, in women's javelin throw with Asian Games gold medallist and national record holder
Annu Rani
finishing fourth with a below-par effort of 58.30m.
Born to a farmer father at Sirsa village of Atrauli Tehsil in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh, Gulveer has been on a national record breaking spree, the last one being the 27:00.22 in 10000m earlier this year.
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Going into the event as Asian leader this season, Gulveer ran a well calculated race to eventually leave behind his rivals by a fare distance.
He was in the leading pack throughout. Towards the end, it was a contest among the eventual three medal winners.
Just before the last lap, Kibichi was leading with Gulveer closely behind him. But soon, he made his final kick and was well ahead of the other two rivals midway into the last lap.
He had enough fuel in the tank to virtually sprint down the last 100m stretch.
Suzuki, the second best Asian so far this season, overtook Kibichi in the end to take the silver.
Gulveer is the third Indian to win the 10000m gold after
Hari Chand
(1975) and G Lakshmanan (2017).
He also holds the national record in 5000m, in which he is also competing here and would be aiming to better the bronze in the 2023 Asian Championships.
Sebastian's timing was just shy of his personal best of 1:21:23sec, set earlier this year for a gold at the
Uttarakhand National Games
in February.
China's Wang Zhaozhao (1:20:36.90) and Japan's Kento Yoshikawa (1:20:44.90) won the gold and silver respectively.
Amit, the other Indian in the field, finished fifth with a time of 1:22:14.30.
In men's high jump, Sarvesh Anil Kushare qualified for the final round after finishing fourth in qualification group B with an effort of 2.10m.
India has sent a 58-strong contingent for the event where the country won 27 medals in the previous edition.
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