Gumi: Indian ace hurdler Jyothi Yarraji won the gold medal in the women’s 100m hurdles at the Asian Athletics Championships on Thursday. She not only defended her gold but also set a new competition record with a timing of 12.96s.
Japan's Yumi Tanaka bagged silver ahead of China's Wu Yanni with the slightest margin of 0.007s. Jyothi produced a late burst to continue her supremacy in the event to surpass the previous records of 13.04 seconds, achieved by Kazakhstan's Olga Shishigina in 1998 and Sun Yawei of China in 2011.
It was a double delight for India as steeplechase runner Avinash Sable also delivered a season-best performance to clinch the gold medal in the men's 3000m steeplechase.
Sable clinched the gold with a time of 8:20.92, securing his second Asian Championships medal after winning silver in 2019. While it was enough for the top spot this time, the performance fell short of his national record of 8:09.91 set in 2024.
India's wait for gold in the men’s steeplechase at the Asian Championships finally ended, marking the nation’s first top-podium finish in the event since Dina Ram’s triumph back in 1989. The milestone, however, traces back further to 1975 when Harbel Singh became the first Indian to clinch gold in the discipline.
Moreover, Indian women’s 4x400m relay team clinched the gold medal while the men took silver.
The quartet of Jisna Mathew, Rupal Chaudhary, Kunja Rajitha and Subha Venkatesan helped India win its first gold in the event since 2013 as it clocked 3:34.18s. Vietnam (3:34.77s) grabbed silver while Sri Lanka (3:36.67s) clinched the bronze.
In the men’s event, the quartet of Jay Kumar, Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil Saji and Vishal TK finished behind Qatar to take the silver medal in a thrilling race. India clocked 3:03.67s while Qatar’s timing was 3:03.52s. China (3:03.73s) grabbed the bronze medal.
In women’s long jump, Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh won the silver and bronze medals, respectively while Reihaneh Mobini Arani grabbed a historic first-ever gold medal in the event for Iran.
Asian Games silver medallist Ancy’s best jump of 6.33m came in the third round while for Shaili, who had won the silver medal at the previous Asian Championships in Bangkok in 2023, her opening jump of 6.30m remained her top effort.
Arani took the gold with a second-round jump of 6.40m.
In heptathlon, Nandini Agasara (3,610 points) was the leader at the end of four events with China’s Liu Jingyi (3,412 points) and Chinese Taipei’s Cai Juan Chen (3,410 points) trailing her. The remaining three events - long jump, javelin throw and 800m - will take place on Friday.
In men’s high jump, Sarvesh Kushare finished fifth as he failed to clear the bar set at 2.23m while in men’s shot put, Samardeep Singh Gill finished sixth with a best throw of 19.25m.
India has won 14 medals - five gold, six silver and three bronze - at the ongoing edition which concludes on Saturday. Agencies
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