Asian Athletics 2025: Mixed relay team wins Gold, Tejaswin bags decathlon silver

India Today

28-05-2025

India clinched six medals on Day 2 of the Asian Athletics Championships held in Gumi, South Korea. The highlight of the day was the Indian 4x400m mixed relay team, which secured the gold medal, while Tejaswin Shankar won silver in the decathlon event on Wednesday, May 28. With this performance, India currently holds third place on the medal table at the prestigious continental championships, trailing only China and Japan with a total of two gold, four silver and two bronze medals.advertisementIndia's 4x400m mixed relay team delivered a stellar performance, clinching the gold medal and defending their title with a time of 3:18.20 seconds. Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan, Rupal Chaudhary, Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi and Subha Venkatesan sprinted to the top step of the podium, leading from start to finsih.The Indian quartet outpaced China (3:20.52s) and Sri Lanka (3:21.95s), who took silver and bronze respectively. This victory marked India's second gold medal of the championships following Gulveer Singh's triumph in the men's 10,000m on Day 1.TEJASHWIN SHANKAR AND PRAVEEN CHITRAVEL WIN SILVERS
Meanwhile, India's Praveen Chithravel won silver behind China's Zhu Yaming in the men's triple jump. Praveen, who won bronze in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, came up with a best effort of 16.90m while Zhu took Gold with 17.06m.Korea's Gyumin Yu won bronze with a best effort of 16.82m, which was his season-best effort.advertisementTejashwin Shankar won silver in decathlon, impressing over the first two days. The 26-year-old has won bronze in the 2023 edition, but it's his second silver in decathlon at the continental level after his Asian Games silver in Hangzhou.DOUBLE DELIGHT FOR RUPAL CHAUDHARYEarlier in the day, Rupal Chaudhary, a 20-year-old quarter-miler from Uttar Pradesh's Shahpur Jainpur village in Meerut, opened India's medal account with a silver in the women's 400m. She clocked 52.68 seconds, finishing behind Japan's Nanako Matsumoto (52.17s), while Uzbekistan's Jonbibi Hukmova took bronze (52.79s).Fellow Indian Vithya Ramraj placed fifth with 53.00 seconds.This was Rupal's second medal of the day, reinforcing her rising star status. Notably, she had previously made history by becoming the first Indian athlete to win two medals at the World U20 Athletics Championships in 2022, with a silver in the 4x400m relay and bronze in the 400m.Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi clocked a personal best of 45.57 seconds in the men's 400m, finishing fourth in a tightly contested final. Though he missed out on a medal, his performance contributed significantly to India's successful 4x400m relay run later in the day.POOJA BAGS SILVER IN WOMEN'S 1500MIndia's Pooja added another silver in the women's 1500m, recording a time of 4:10.83. She narrowly missed the gold, which went to China's Li Chunhui (4:10.58), while Japan's Tomaka Kimura bagged bronze (4:11.56, season's best).advertisementCompatriot Lili Das finished fourth with a commendable 4:13.81.BRONZE FOR YOONUS IN MEN'S 1500MYoonus Shah brought home a bronze medal in the men's 1500m, clocking 3:43.03. The race was won by Japan's Kazuto Lizawa (3:42.56, personal best), followed by South Korea's Jaeung Lee (3:42.79).On Day 1, apart from Gulveer Singh, Servin Sebastian clinched the 20km race walk bronze. (WITH PTI Inputs)