Asian Games Asiad: Indian athletes bloat medals tally as Parul, Annu win golds
Hangzhou/UNI: Parul Chaudhary and Annu Rani won historic gold medals for India in the 5000m race and javelin throw, respectively, at the Asian Games 2023 here on Tuesday.
This was the first time that the National Anthem reverberated as the Tricolour ascended the poles after India won golds in the women's 5000m race and women's javelin throw in Asian Games history.
Apart from the two gold medals, India claimed two silvers and as many bronze to take their tally in athletics at Hangzhou to 22, which include four golds, 10 silvers and eight bronze.
28-year-old Parul won India's first gold medal of the day at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre by clocking 15:14.75 for the top spot.
Lagging behind for the most part of the run, Parul steamed up in the final two laps and burst through from the 50-meter mark in the final lap to beat Japan's Ririka Hironaka by less than a second.
While Ririka Hironaka clocked 15:15.34 for silver, Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui of Kazakhstan claimed bronze in 15:23.12. India’s Ankita clocked a personal best of 15:33.03 but could only finish fifth in the field of 13.
On Monday, Parul clinched her first Asian Games medal after winning silver in the women's 3000m steeplechase.
Earlier this year, she won two medals at the Asian championships, a gold in the 3000m steeplechase and a silver in the 5000m race.
On the contrary, Annu Rani had a different story to script this year. The Indian javelin thrower crossed the 60m mark for the first time in Hangzhou since winning the bronze at the Commonwealth Games last year.
On Tuesday, Annu threw the spear to a distance of 61.28m on her second attempt before producing her best of 62.92m on her fourth try, lesser than her national record of 63.82m.
Dilhani Lekamge of Sri Lanka (61.57m) and Huihui Lyu of China (61.29m) claimed silver and bronze medals, respectively.
India bagged yet another medal at Hangzhou as Tejaswin Shankar won a silver in the men 's-only decathlon event, setting a national record.
Shankar, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in the high jump, scored a total of 7666 points from 10 events to break Bharatinder Singh’s 12-year-old national record of 7658. It was Tejaswin Shankar’s first medal at the Asian Games.
India's Mohammed Afsal notched up silver in the men's 800m with a timing of 1:48:50 after exterminating Saudi Arabia's Essa Ali, who clocked 1:48.05.
Oman's Husain Mohsin al-Farsi secured bronze in 1:48.51. India's Krishan Kumar was disqualified.
Vithya Ramraj also joined the party and won bronze for India in the 400m hurdles in 55.68s.
She topped the heats on Monday by equalling PT Usha’s 39-year-old national record of 55.42s in the event.
Bahrain’s Oluwakemi Adekoya, the 2014 Asian Games champion, regained her title with a Games record of 54.45s. China’s Jiadie Mo claimed silver in 55.01s.
In the men’s triple jump, national record holder Praveen Chithravel won a bronze medal with a leap of 16.68m. His compatriot and Asian champion Abdulla Aboobacker had a best attempt of 16.62m and missed out.
China claimed the top two podiums in the men’s triple jump with Yaming Zhu (17.13m) and Yaoqing Fang (16.93m) claiming gold and silver, respectively. India’s national record stands at 17.37m.
Athletics at the Asian Games 2023 will conclude on Thursday. India’s Neeraj Chopra will be in action on Wednesday.
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