Gumi (South Korea): The Indian quartet of Santhosh Kumar Tamilasaran, Rupal, Vishal Thennarasu Kayalayizhu, and Subha Venkatesan bagged gold medals in the 4x400m mixed relay on the second day of competitions at the Asian Athletics Championships here on Wednesday.
The Indian team clocked 3:18.12s to finish first in the race and bagged India’s second gold in the Continental competition. China took silver with 3:20.52s while Sri Lanka bagged bronze with 3:21.95s on Wednesday. India have won eight medals, including two gold at the end of the second day of competitions.
India’s Day 2 at the Asian Athletics Championships started with silver in women’s 400m through Rupal Chaudhary. She clocked 52.68 seconds to clinch a spot on the podium. Japan’s Nanaku Matsumoto (52.17s) won the gold and Uzbekistan’s Jonbibi Hukmova (52.79s) pocketed the bronze. Another Indian in the lineup, Vithya Ramraj, finished fifth with a time of 53s.
A bronze medal in men’s 1500m by Yoonus Shah was the second medal of the day for India. Yoonus finished third with a timing of 3:43.03s, behind Kazuto Iizawa of Japan, who won the gold with 3:42.56s, and Jaeung Lee of Korea, who won the silver with 3:42.79s.
Later, Pooja added the third medal to the day’s tally when she pocketed the silver in the women’s 1500m run with a timing of 4:10.83s. China’s Li Chunhui (4:10.58s) took the gold medal. Another Indian representation in the event, Lili Das, finished fourth, clocking 4:13.81s.
In the men’s triple jump, Praveen Chithravel added another medal to India’s kitty with a best effort of 16.90m to claim the silver, finishing behind China’s Zhu Yaming (17.06m). Korea’s Gyumin Yu took the bronze medal with 16.82m. Defending champion Abdulla Aboobacker, however, finished fourth with 16.72m.
Afterwards, Tejaswin Shankar became the first Indian to win two medals in the decathlon at the Asian Athletics Championships. Tejaswin, who holds the national record in the event, finished with 7,618 points to claim silver on Wednesday, adding to his bronze from the 2023 Championships.
On day 1, Servin Sebastian won the first medal for India at the Asian Athletics Championships by bagging a bronze in the men’s 20km race walk event on Tuesday.
Gulveer Singh then won the first gold medal for India in the men’s 10000m while Rupal Chaudhary was the first Indian woman to finish on the podium at Gumi with a silver in the 400m.
Over 60 Indian athletes are competing at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025, aiming to build on a strong showing from the previous edition held in Bangkok two years back.
The 26th edition of the Asian Athletics Championships features over 2000 athletes from 43 nations. Indian athletes are participating in a total of 30 medal events – 15 for men, 14 for women and one mixed team – over the five-day competition.
(IANS)
