Athletics
Asian Athletics C'ships: Abhishek wins bronze in 10000m
India started with a bronze medal on Day 1 of the Asian Athletics Championships as Abhishek Pal finished third in the 10,000m.
Abhishek Pal won bronze in 10000m to open medal account for India in Asian Athletics Championships 2023.
India opened a medal account on the Day 1 of the Asian Athletics Championships as Abhishek Pal won a bronze medal in the 10000m on Wednesday in Bangkok, Thailand.
Pal clocked 29 minutes 33.26 seconds to finish behind Ren Tazawa (29.18.44) of Japan and Koech Kimutai Shadrack (29:31.63) of Kazakhstan. The-25-year-old Pal from the Indian army pushed hard in the last lap of the race to cross the finish line in 29:33.36 seconds to win the first medal for the Indian contingent.
It was a sweet victory for Pal as he had finished seventh in the 10,000m at the 2019 Doha edition of the Asian Athletics Championships in Qatar.
"The bronze in the 10,000m has added to my confidence. I should do better in the 5,000m race," Pal said after the race.
"The weather was okay at the start of the race but was unbearable in the second half," he added further.
His compatriot Gulveer Singh finished fifth with a gap of 20 seconds and recorded time of 29:53.69.
Indian quarter-milers gave a good account of themselves in the preliminary rounds of the 400m. While Aishwarya Misha clocked 53.58 seconds to win her heat and advance to the final, in men's 400 m Rajesh Ramesh (45.91 secs) and Muhammad Ajmal (45.75 secs) were impressive in the men's 400m semis on Wednesday. Both have qualified for the final.
Annu Rani came close to a podium finish in Women's Javelin but had to settle for fourth place as her throw of 59.10m was not good enough on the day.
In women's 1500m, Lily Das registered a timing of 4:27.61 and finished seventh.
