Indian athletes capped off the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand on a high, winning a whopping 13 medals – eight silver and five bronze – on the final day of the competition on Sunday.
The rich haul on the final day also saw India’s medals tally at the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 rise to 27 – six gold, 12 silver and nine bronze.
In terms of medals won, the Bangkok campaign is India’s joint-highest tally at the Asian championships alongside Bhubaneswar 2017. At Bhubaneswar, India won nine gold, six silver and 12 bronze.
Jyothi Yarraji, who had topped the podium in the women’s 100m hurdles earlier, picked her second medal of the competition with a silver medal finish in the women’s 200m finals.
The Indian athlete clocked a new personal best of 23.13s to finish just behind Singapore’s Veronica Shanti Pereira, who claimed the gold with 22.70 – a new championship record. The Republic of China’s Li Yuting (23.25) won bronze.
Despite Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra’s absence in Bangkok, India managed a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw courtesy DP Manu, who logged 81.01m with his final throw to upgrade himself from a bronze to silver.
Japanese track and field athlete Roderik Genki Dean (83.15m) walked away with the gold while Yasir Muhammad, representing Pakistan in the absence of the injured Arshad Nadeem, pocketed the bronze with a 79.93m throw.
Indian women’s shot putters also added two medals to India’s overall tally with Abha Khatua (18.06m) and Manpreet Kaur (17.00m) claiming the silver and bronze, respectively. China’s Song Jiayuan came up with 18.88m to claim the top podium.
Interestingly, Abha Khatua’s mark in Bangkok saw her equal Manpreet’s women’s shot put national record, which was logged at the 2022 inter-state championships in Chennai. Abha’s previous personal best was a distant 17.13m, which came in March last year.
In the 800m, Indian runners managed silver medals in both the men’s and women’s categories.
In the men’s race, Krishan Kumar clocked a season’s best 1:45.88 to finish behind Qatar’s Abubaker Haydar Abdalla (1:45.53). Kuwait’s Ebrahim Alzofairi (1:46.11) completed the podium. Mohammed Afsal, the second Indian in the eight-man field, finished in seventh place with 1:48.77.
While Lavika Sharma did not finish the women’s 800m, her Indian compatriot Chanda secured a silver with 2:01.58. It took a new championship record timing of 2:00.66 by Sri Lanka’s Tharushi Karunarathna Dissanayaka to keep the Indian athlete from getting her hands on the gold.
Another Lankan runner, Gayanthika Artigala (2:03.25) came in third.
The women’s 5000m race yielded two medals for India with Parul Chaudhary, who had earlier won gold in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, taking the silver with a 15:52.35 run and Ankita (16:03.33) taking the bronze. The gold in Bangkok went to Japan’s Yuma Yamamoto (15:51.16).
Parul had reset the Indian national record in the 5000m with a 15:10.35 earlier this year in the USA.
Gulveer Singh finished with a bronze medal in the men’s 5000m race, clocking 13:48.33 to come in behind Japanese duo Endo Hyuga (13:34.94) and Kazuya Shiojiri (13:43.92). India’s Abhishek Pal (15:00.03) finished a disappointing 14th.
The Indian women’s 4x400m relay team featuring Rezoana Mallick Heena, Aishwarya Mishra, Jyothika Sri Dandi and anchor Subha Venkatesan clocked 3:33.73 to win bronze behind Vietnam (3:32.36) and Sri Lanka (3:33.27).
In the final event of the competition, the Indian men’s 4x400m relay team, featuring Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal, Mijo Chacko Kurian and Rajesh Ramesh, grabbed another silver medal. India’s time of 3:01.80 was only second to Sri Lanka’s 3:01.56 – a new meet record. The bronze went to the Qatari team.
Indian race walkers struck two medals to start the day.
Vikash Singh clinched a bronze in the men’s 20km race walk, clocking 1:29:32. Japan’s Yutaro Murayama (1:24:40) and China’s Wang Kaihua (1:25:29) finished ahead of the Indian. Akshdeep Singh was disqualified.
The women’s race walk event saw Priyanka Goswami finish with the silver medal with a time of 1:34:24. Yang Liujing of China claimed gold with 1:32:37 while the bronze went to Japan’s Yukiko Umeno (1:36:17).
Bhawna Jat, another Indian Olympian, came in fifth with 1:38:26.