Asian Athletics C’ships 2025: Gulveer Singh wins 10,000m gold

Gulveer Singh lived up to the expectations by winning gold in the men’s 10,000m final on the opening day of the Asian Athletics Championship in Gumi, South Korea on Tuesday.

Gulveer crossed the finish line in 28:38.63s to become only the third Indian man to win the 10,000m gold after Hari Chand (1975) and G Lakhsmanan (2017).

Gulveer along with fellow Indian Sawan Barwal, who finished fourth with a time of 28:50.53s, were part of the five-member pack led by Bahrain’s Kibichi Rop.

It was Gulveer’s all out effort in the final lap that brought home India’s first gold at the continental championship.

At the 2023 edition, Gulveer had finished fifth in the men’s 10,000m and won bronze in the 5,000m.

Japan's Mebuki Suzuki (28:43.84s) and Bahrain’s Albert Kibichi Rop (28:46.82s) finished second and third, respectively.

Gulveer had already achieved the World Championships qualification in 5000m.

Bronze for Servin Sebastian

Earlier, Servin Sebastian opened India's medals tally with a bronze medal in the men's 20km race walk event.

The 25-year-old clocked 1:21:13.60s.

China's Wang Zhaozhao (1:20:36.90s) and Japan's Kento Yoshikawa (1:20:44.90s) took the gold and silver, respectively.

Amit, the other Indian in the field, finished fifth with a time of 1:22:14.30s.

In the women’s javelin throw, Annu Rani missed the podium by 0.64m, finishing fourth with an effort of 58.30m.

China’s Su Lingdan (63.29m), Japan’s Momone Ueda (59.39m) and Sae Takemoto (59.39m) made the podium.

Among other Indians in fray on Day 1, Vishal TK advanced to the men’s 400m final with a personal best effort of 46.05s. Jay Kumar, however, fell short. His clocked 46.87s finished fourth in the semifinal but did not advance to the final.

The Indian quarter-miler Rupal and Vithya Ramraj qualified for the finals. Rupal clocked 53.00s while Vithya’s efforts of 53.32s helped her breeze through to the final.

In men’s 1500m, Yoonus Shah finished second in his heats with a time of 3:46.96s and will now be competing for a podium in the final.

Sarvesh Kushare also made the finals in men’s High Jump Qualification with a jump of 2.10m.

Tejaswin Shankar is in pole position in the decathlon with 4,205 points after five events, following strong performances in the high jump and long jump. He is being chased by Japan's Yuma Maruyama, who has 4,065 points.

India has fielded a strong 59-member contingent for the event. In the previous edition, Indian athletes had won 27 medals.