Athletics
Asian Athletics C'ships: Indian mixed relay team defends title
The Indian team of Santosh T, Rupal, Vishal TK, and Subha Venkatesan clocked a time of 3:18.12s to clinch the gold medal.
The Indian team of Santosh T, Rupal, Vishal TK, and Subha Venkatesan clocked a time of 3:18.12s to clinch the gold medal.
Indian athletes had a brilliant second day at the Asian Athletics Championships, winning six medals, including the gold medal in the mixed relay 4x400m event in Gumi, South Korea, on Wednesday.
The Indian relay team of Santosh T, Rupal, Vishal TK, and Subha Venkatesan clocked a time of 3:18.12s to clinch the gold medal and defend their crown from the 2023 Asian Championships.
On the other hand, Praveen Chithravel (Triple Jump), Rupal Chaudhary (400m Women), Pooja (1500m Women), and Tejaswin Shankar (Decathlon) clinched the silver medals.
The day, however, began for India with a bronze medal in the 1500m men's final, where Yoonus Shah clocked a time of 3:43.03s to win his maiden Asian medal.
A top-2 finish in the decathlon after 44 years
Decathlete Tejaswin Shankar upgraded his bronze medal from the last edition to a silver in Gumi and became the first Indian to win two medals in Decathlon at Asian Championships.
This was also the first time an Indian had a top-2 finish in this event since the 1981 gold-medal winning performance of Sabir Ali.
Tejaswin started the day with a personal best timing of 14.58s in men's 100m hurdles to maintain his lead on the leaderboard, but after an average performance in Pole Vault and Javelin Throw, he dropped to third.
However, Tejaswin redeemed himself in the men's 1500m, and with a decent time of 4:37.99s, he jumped back in the top 2 with a total score of 7618 points, finishing behind Fei Xiang of China by just 16 points.
India has also had a couple of close misses on the podium, with Vishal TK (400m Men), Lili Das (1500m Women), and Abdulla Abbobacker (Men's Triple Jump) finishing in fourth place in their respective events.
After 2 days, India is now in third position on the medal table behind China and Japan, having a total of eight medals: 2 Gold, 4 Silver, and 2 Bronze Medals.
Indian medalists from day 2:
- Gold - Mixed 4*400m Relay - Santosh Kumar T, Rupal Chaudhary, Vishal TK, Subha Venkatesan - 3:18.12s
- Silver - Tejaswin Shankar - Decathlon - 7618 Points
- Silver - Praveen Chithravel - Triple Jump - 16.90m
- Silver - Rupal Chaudhary - 400m - 52.68s
- Women Silver - Pooja - 1500m Women - 4:10.83s
- Bronze - Yoonus Shah - 1500m Men - 3:43.03s
