Gulveer completes a double; Pooja, Nandini too corner glory
Gulveer Singh became only the second Indian to claim the 5,000m-10,000m double gold at the Asian Athletics Championships and high jumper Pooja had the distinction of being the country's youngest champion in this edition as India added three gold and a silver to its tally on the penultimate day of the competition in Gumi, South Korea, on Friday. With this, India now has eight gold — two more than 2023 — seven silver and three bronze.
Gulveer clocked 13:24.77 to add the 5K to his 10K gold from day one to emulate Govindan Lakshmanan's feat from 2017 and complete his double. Preserving energy but still staying part of the five-member leader pack till the last lap in hot and humid conditions, Gulveer gradually accelerated to open space, then kicked off with a burst of power in the final 200m to take the lead. Even though Kieran Tuntivate of Thailand and Nagiya Mori of Japan pushed hard, Gulveer had no problems crossing the finish line comfortably in front. Abhishek Pal finished sixth in 13:33.51.
In heptathlon, Agasara Nandini consolidated her lead at the top to win gold in style to finish with 5941 points. In the process, she also improved her personal best by more than 100 points, having totalled 5813 during the recent Federation Cup.
But the biggest surprise was from 18-year old Pooja, who set a new under-20 national record with a massive 1.89m jump to not only become the Asian champion in her maiden international outing at any level but also ensure India's first gold in a field event at the ongoing competition. Pooja, who jumped 1.85m at the national under-18 championships last year and equalled it at the Indian Open last month, also became only the second Indian woman high jumper to win a medal at the Asians after Bobby Aloysius in 2002.
In the 3.000m steeplechase, Parul Chaudhary broke her own national record for the second time in less than a fortnight but was still unable to defend her title, managing a silver in 9:12.46, two seconds behind Norah Jeruto Tanui of Kazakhstan. The former Kenyan World champion had switched nationalities in 2022.
Both Pooja and Twinkle Chaudhary, meanwhile, advanced to the final of the 800m, the former with a personal best of 2:02.70 in second spot and latter in 2:04.21. Krishan Kumar and Anu Kumar too booked their spots in the 800m with top-two finishes in their respective heats. Anu Raghavan and Vithya Ramraj too advanced to the 400m hurdles final while Animesh Kujur did so in the 200m.
In the morning session, Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh both advanced to the javelin throw finals with efforts of 79.62m and 76.67m respectively for automatic qualification. Pakistan's Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, in his first competition since the Paris Games, threw a massive 86.34m in his opening attempt to top the qualification.
The Indian men's 4x100m side, however, had to face a disastrous disqualification after officials deemed the first baton between Pranav Gurav and Ragul Kumar was exchanged outside the designated zone. With just 10 teams and eight spots in the final, it would have been a breeze for the Indians. Surprisingly, national record holder Gurindervir Singh was not fielded in the heat.
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