Athletics
Jyothi Yarraji wins India’s first gold medal at 2023 Asian Athletics C'ships: Watch
Jyothi Yarraji is the new Asian champion in 100m hurdles. Ajay Kumar Saroj (1500m) and Abdulla Aboobacker (Triple Jump) also won gold medals.
Jyothi Yarraji won India's first gold medal at the 25th Asian Athletics Championship in Bangkok on Thursday.
Jyothi won the 100m hurdles gold medal in a rain-marred final, which probably caused her to clock a time of more than 13 seconds - 13.09s. Earlier in the heats, she had topped with a time of 12.98 seconds - her sixth sub-13s run of the year.
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This was the second medal in India's tally after Abhishek Pal's bronze in the 10,000m event a day ago, but Jyothi's gold medal brought about a medal shower, which included two other gold medals won by Ajay Kumar Saroj (1500m) and Abdulla Aboobacker (Triple Jump).
Not only is this India's first medal at this edition of the Asian Athletics Championships, this is also India's first ever gold medal in the 100m hurdles event in all editions of this meet.
Having become the new Asian champion, Jyothi has also registered crucial ranking points which will help her to qualify for the World Championships in Budapest.
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There was another unexpected gold medal in store in the men's 1500m final. Ajay Kumar Saroj won the gold medal ahead of the more storied runners from Qatar, China, Japan and even Jinson Johnson of India with a time of 3:41.51.
Abdulla Aboobacker won the third gold for India on the day with a 16.92m jump in Men's Triple Jump.
At the conclusion of Day 2 of the meet, India have 3 gold medals and 3 bronze medals.
India's medals at Asian Athletics Championships so far:
Abhishek Pal - 10,000m bronze
Jyothi Yarraji - 100m hurdles gold
Aishwarya Misra - 400m bronze
Ajay Kumar Saroj - 1500m gold
Abdulla Aboobacker - Triple jump gold
Tejaswin Shankar - Decathlon bronze