Asian Athletics Championships: India win gold in mixed relay, 4 others secure silver; take medal tally to 8

India showcased a stellar performance on the second day of the 26th Asian Athletics Championship, securing a total of eight medals across various events on Wednesday. The highlight was the dominant gold defense in the 4x400m mixed relay, complemented by multiple individual silvers and a bronze that boosted the country’s overall medal tally.

Dominant Gold in 4x400m Mixed Relay

India’s 4x400m mixed relay team successfully defended their gold medal with a commanding performance. The quartet of Rupal Chaudhary, Santhosh Kumar, Vishal TK, and Subha Venkatesan clocked a winning time of 3:18.12 seconds. Notably, Rupal Chaudhary had earlier secured a silver medal in the individual women’s 400m event. Subha Venkatesan was also part of the gold-winning mixed relay team in the 2023 edition.

China and Sri Lanka, initially finishing second and third respectively, were both disqualified for undisclosed reasons. Consequently, Kazakhstan (3:22.70s) and Korea (3:22.87s) moved up to claim silver and bronze medals.

Strong Silver and Bronze Performances Boost India’s Medal Tally 

India’s medal haul was further strengthened by several individual performances. Tejaswin Shankar, primarily based in the US, earned a silver in the decathlon with a total score of 7618, narrowly missing gold to China’s Fei Xiang (7634) but finishing ahead of Japan’s Keisuke Okuda (7602).

Praveen Chithravel won silver in the men’s triple jump, achieving a best jump of 16.90m. Commenting on the conditions, Chithravel said, “Today, the conditions were very good. In the first two jumps, I just wanted to get into the top 8. Then, on the third jump, I hit 16.90m — and right after that, it started raining. After the third jump, my body started feeling heavy every time I jumped. So today, it was the same,” he explained. 

“The first jump was 16.60m, the second was 16.67m, and then the third was 16.90m. After that, I felt very comfortable. But about 10 minutes later, it started raining. “Actually, this is normal for me. Whenever I compete abroad, it’s usually cold and rainy, so I felt the same today. After the rain, it takes more than 40 minutes for me to recover. So then, my body starts to go down, and I have to really push myself. And then… everything is done.”

Silver Medals in Women’s 400m and 1500m, Bronze in Men’s 1500m 

Rupal Chaudhary opened the day for India by securing silver in the women’s 400m final with a time of 52.68 seconds. Vithya Ramraj also participated, finishing fifth in 53.00 seconds. The gold was claimed by Japan’s Nanako Matsumoto (52.17s), with Uzbekistan’s Jonbibi Hukmova taking bronze (52.79s).

Pooja followed with a silver in the women’s 1500m, timing 4:10.83 seconds, just ahead of fellow Indian Lili Das, who finished fourth (4:13.81 seconds). China’s Li Chunhui won gold (4:10.58), while Japan’s Tomaka Kimura took bronze with a season-best 4:11.56.

Yoonus Shah clinched bronze in the men’s 1500m with a time of 3:43.03. Japanese runner Kazuto Lizawa won gold with a personal best of 3:42.56, while South Korea’s Jaeung Lee took silver (3:42.79).

Rupal Chaudhary: A Rising Star with Big Aspirations 

Hailing from a farming family in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district, 20-year-old Rupal has emerged as one of India’s promising athletes. She made history at the 2022 World U20 Athletics Championships by winning two medals: silver in the 4x400m relay and bronze in the women’s 400m.

Rupal spoke about her current fitness and future goals: “My training was going well till national. After that, I was a little worried due to my injury. But the way my training is going and my performance is going, I’m okay. I’m feeling okay. But I’m not satisfied,” she said. “So, my main target from now on is to fix the problems that I have in my back, in my hamstring. And according to the training that I did before the national, I have already done my personal best during my training. “So, I think I can improve my personal best. So, I’ll do that after I leave from here.”

Other Notable Performances 

Besides the day’s medals, national record-holder Gulveer Singh had already delivered a gold medal-winning performance in the men’s 10,000m on day one. Servin Sebastian won bronze in the 20km race walk earlier in the championship.

In other events, Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi ran a personal best of 45.57 seconds in the men’s 400m but finished fourth. Long jumpers Shaili Singh and Ancy Sojan qualified for the women’s long jump final with best efforts of 6.17m and 6.14m respectively. Hurdler Jyoti Yarraji also qualified for the next round after finishing third in her heat with a time of 13.18 seconds.

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