Asian Games 2026: Gulveer Singh wins silver, Baranica Elangovan makes history with pole vault bronze

India enjoyed a productive evening in athletics at the Asian Games on Friday, with Gulveer Singh winning silver in the men’s 10,000m and Baranica Elangovan creating history with bronze in the women’s pole vault.

Gulveer clocked 28:29.38 to finish second behind Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew, who won gold in 28:27.51. Bahrain’s Albert Kipto took bronze in 28:34.18.

The silver marked an upgrade from Gulveer’s bronze at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou and gave him back-to-back medals in the 10,000m.

Baranica, meanwhile, cleared 4.15m to secure bronze and become the first Indian athlete to win an Asian Games medal in the pole vault. She had earlier cleared 3.85m and 4m on her first attempts.

National record holder Sindhushree Ganesh had a difficult debut, failing to register a valid clearance. She began at 3.85m but failed all three attempts, finishing without a mark.

India added another athletics medal through Manpreet Kaur in the women’s shot put. Manpreet produced a best throw of 17.17m on her fourth attempt to take bronze, while compatriot Krishna Jayashankar finished fifth with 16.57m.

Animesh Kujur finished seventh in his semifinal heat with 10.38s, while Gurindervir Singh clocked 10.32s for fifth in his heat. Both missed out on the final.

In the women’s heptathlon, Pooja finished sixth with 5,368 points and Anamika eighth with 5,234. Japan’s Yuri Tanaka won gold with 5,920 points.