Long distance runner Abhishek Pal won the first medal for India on Day 1 of the Asian Athletics Championships at Bangkok. Pal won a bronze medal in the 10000m on Wednesday in Bangkok, Thailand clocking 29 minutes 33.26 seconds.
He finished behind Ren Tazawa (29.18.44) of Japan and Koech Kimutai Shadrack (29:31.63) of Kazakhstan. The-25-year-old Pal from the Indian Army pushed hard in the last lap of the race to cross the finish line in 29:33.36 seconds to win the first medal for the Indian contingent.
It was a crucial win for Pal who had finished seventh in the 10,000 mts at the 2019 Doha edition of the Asian Athletics Championships in Qatar. India’s Gulveer Singh finished fifth in the 16-man field with a timing of 29:53.69.
Abhishek Pal’s personal best is 28:54.98 clocked in Gujarat last year. India’s national record of 28:02.89 in men’s 10,000m belongs to the Beijing 2008 Olympian Surendra Singh set 15 years ago.