6 days ago
Asian Athletics Championships: Gulveer Singh wins 10k gold, Annu Rani misses podium
India commenced their Asian Athletics Championships campaign in Gumi, South Korea, with a gold medal in the men's 10,000m. Gulveer Singh, an Asian Games bronze medallist, clinched the title with a time of 28:38.63s-over a minute slower than his personal best, which also stands as the National Record, on Tuesday, May gold is a fitting reward for the 26-year-old Army man, who has been away from his family for the past six months. Remarkably, he chose national duty over spending time with his loved ones, including his daughter, born in November last edged ahead of Mebuki Suzuki of Japan, who claimed silver with a time of 28:43.84s, while Albert Kibichi Rop of Bahrain secured bronze with a season's best of 28:46.82s.
He will have the opportunity to double his medal tally when he competes in the men's 5000m final on 30 May. Notably, Gulveer had set a new National Record and Indoor Asian Record in the 5000m at the Boston University DMR Challenge in February. Clocking 12:59.77s, he became the first Indian to break the 13-minute barrier in the event, thereby qualifying for the World Athletics Championships in Gulveer Singh on his way to gold medal in men's 10,000m at Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi.#IndianAthletics#GUMI #SouthKorea Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) May 27, 2025BRONZE IN 20KM RACE WALKEarlier in the day, Servin Sebastian earned India's first medal of the championships with a bronze in the men's 20km race walk, finishing in 1 hour, 21 minutes, and 13.60 seconds. China's Wang Zhaozhao (1:20:36.90s) took gold, while Japan's Kento Yoshikawa (1:20:44.90s) claimed silver. Sebastian's time was just shy of his personal best of 1:21:23s, set earlier this year when he won gold at the Uttarakhand National Games in Asian Games gold medallist Annu Rani had a disappointing outing in the women's javelin final, finishing fourth in a field of best throw was 58.30m, falling 64 centimetres short of a podium finish. Sae Takemoto of Japan secured bronze with 58.94m. Annu's performance was significantly below her personal best and National Record of Su Lingdan took gold with a personal best of 63.29m, while Japan's Momone Ueda earned silver with a throw of Paris Olympics gold medallist Haruka Kitaguchi did not participate in the championships.
