India signs off with its best-ever finish on foreign soil in 40 years

The Hindu

3 days ago

Sachin Yadav had promised to not let the conditions or opponents affect him and while he took time to get into his rhythm, the young javelin thrower made good on his promise with a personal best of 85.16m to win a silver in his maiden international outing behind Pakistan's Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem on the final day of the 26th Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, on Saturday.
India wrapped up the campaign with its best-ever performance in the competition on foreign soil, finishing with 24 medals, in 40 years.
The concluding day saw India grab three silver and as many bronze to finish with eight gold, 10 silver and six bronze. Although it was three less than the 27 medals in 2023, the number of gold medals went up from six to eight, pushing India to second spot on the table behind China (15,8,3). India's previous best outing was way back in 1985 at Jakarta, winning 22 medals with 10 gold, including five by P.T. Usha.
Besides Sachin, Parul Chaudhary finished second in 5,000m to add to her silver in 3,000m steeplechase and the women's 4x100m relay team scorched the track for the country's final silver medal. Pooja added a bronze in the 800m, as did Animesh Kujur in 200m and Vithya Ramraj in 400m hurdles.
Sachin started slowly, going past the 80m mark only in his fifth attempt but then managed to get both his technique and strides correct for a massive final throw to go past Japan's Yuta Sakiyama, who finished third with 83.75m in his last attempt. Although he fell short of his main target — qualifying for the World Championships (85.5m) – by 34cm, the result places Sachin ninth the world at the moment. Yashvir Singh too managed an impressive personal best of 82.57m to finish fifth.
Nadeem, favourite to win in his first competition since the Paris Olympics, dug deep for a big 86.40m final throw to close out the competition. In fact, his third throw of 85.57m was also enough to seal both gold and a Worlds spot.
Parul, meanwhile, clocked 15:15.33 in 5,000m to finish behind Kazakhstan's Norah Jeruto Tanui for the second time in as many days. Jeruto set a new Asian record of 14:58.71. This was Parul's third podium finish in the event after bronze in 2019 and silver in 2023. Sanjivani Jadhav clocked a season's best of 15:36.40 to finish fifth.
Pooja landed a bronze in 800m with a personal best of 2:01.89s to add to her 1500m silver, ahead of fourth-placed compatriot Twinkle Chaudhary (2:03.33). Vithya clocked 56.46s to finish third in the 400m hurdles behind China's Mo Jiadie (55.31s), who upset the reigning Asian record holder Oluwakemi Mujidat Adekoya of Bahrain (55.32s) at the finish line. Anu Raghavan, who had won a silver in the event way back in 2017, clocked a second season's best in as many days (57.46s) to finish seventh.
Animesh, meanwhile, shattered his own national record in the 200m for the second time this season with a 20.32s to clinch bronze. However, it was a disappointing day in men's 800m with Krishan Kumar and Anu Kumar bringing up the rear in seventh and eighth positions respectively.
Jyothi Yarraji finished fifth and Nithya Gandhe seventh in the women's 200m. The latter, however, made up with a solid anchor leg to get India's 10th silver in the 4x100m relay.
The Indian quartet — a mix of youth and experience — clocked 43.86s to finish behind China (43.28s). Veteran Srabani Nanda gave a good start, S.S. Sneha kept up the pressure but it was 18-year old Abinaya Rajarajan, the U-20 national record holder and on her senior international debut, who brought India into medal contention with a blazing run in the third leg, going toe-to-toe with Singapore's experienced Veronica Shanti Pereira before Nithya sealed the medal.