Rain disrupted Day 3, but once the skies cleared, the medals started pouring in for India.
Thursday turned out to be India’s most successful day yet at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025 in Gumi, South Korea.
Team India wrapped up the day on a high, collecting six medals.Gold medals came from Avinash Sable, Jyothi Yarraji and the women’s 4×400m relay team. The men’s 4×400m relay team and Ancy Sojan added to the tally with silver medals, while Shaili Singh secured a bronze in the long jump.
Golden run by Subedar Sable
Avinash Sable stamped his authority yet again, this time at the Asian Athletics Championships. The national record holder blazed through the men’s 3000m steeplechase, clocking 8:20.92 to clinch gold, leaving Japan’s Yutaro Niina (8:24.41) and Qatar’s Zakaria Elahlaami (8:27.12) trailing behind.
This gold makes Sable the first Indian man in 36 years to win a 3000m steeplechase gold at the Asian Championships. Only two Indians before him have achieved this feat. Harbans Lal in 1975 and Dina Ram in 1989. Now, Sable becomes the third Indian to join that elite list.
This is not Sable’s first podium finish at the Asian Championships; he also won silver in the 2019 edition.
The 30-year-old Olympian and reigning Asian Games champion is already Tokyo bound for the World Championships in September, having met the qualification mark of 8:15.00 with his impressive 8:14.18 run that secured him 11th place at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Jyothi defends title
India’s hurdle queen, Jyothi Yarraji, won the gold medal in the women’s 100m hurdles, adding another gold to India’s medal tally. She clocked her first-ever sub-13 timing in 2025, finishing at the top with a season-best of 12.96 seconds.
Jyothi successfully defended her crown. She didn’t have a great start but the incredible acceleration in the last four hurdles helped her to finish ahead of Japan’s Yumi Tanaka and China’s Wu Yanni .
2025 has been outstanding for Jyothi, a gold at the National Games, gold at the Federation Cup, and now another gold for India at the Asian Athletics Championship 2025.
Up next: Jyothi is on the start list for the 200m tomorrow. She won silver in 200m at the 2023 Asian Championships it will be interesting to see if she can turn it into Gold this time.
4×400m Relay: Women strike Gold, men secure silver
India’s women’s 4×400m relay team clinched a stunning gold medal, while the men’s team secured silver.
The women’s quartet of Jisna Mathew, Rupal Chaudhary, Kunja Rajitha and Subha Venkatesan delivered a spectacular performance to win India’s fifth gold medal of the championships. Their collective effort, particularly Rupal Chaudhary’s explosive second leg and Subha Venkatesan’s brilliant anchor leg, sealed the victory for India with a time of 3:34.18, finishing ahead of Vietnam and Sri Lanka.
In the men’s 4×400m final, the Indian team comprising Jay Kumar, Dharamveer Chaudhary, Manu and Vishal TK put up a valiant effort to win the silver medal with a time of 3:03.67, finishing behind Qatar.
Jay Kumar gave India a strong start, followed by a solid run from Dharamveer. Manu maintained the pace in the third leg, and an outstanding anchor leg by Vishal TK ensured India’s place on the podium.
Double podium finish for India in women’s long jump
India secured a double podium finish in the women’s long jump event. Ancy Sojan won the silver medal, while Shaili Singh clinched the bronze.
Asian Games silver medalist Ancy Sojan secured second place with a best jump of 6.33m, achieved on her third attempt. Shaili Singh, the 2023 Asian Championships silver medalist, registered her best jump of 6.30m in her very first attempt to take the bronze.
The gold medal was claimed by Iran’s Reihaneh Mobini Arani, who recorded a winning leap of 6.40m.
Heptathlon: Nandini leading the sheet
Nandini Agaskara’s strong performance across four events has kept her at the top of the leaderboard with 3610 points.
100 metres: 13.67s – 1st – 1026 points
High Jump: 1.69m – 4th – 842 points
Shot Put: 13.54m – 2nd – 763 points
200 metres: 24.02s – 1st – 979 points
The remaining three events are long jump, javelin throw and 800 metres.
Atheletes who missed the podium
In the women’s 10,000m, India’s Sanjivani finished 5th with a timing of 33:08.17 and Seema secured 6th place with a timing of 33:08.23.
In the men’s high jump, Sarvesh Kushare narrowly missed out on a podium finish, his best attempt was 2.19m.
In the men’s shotput, Samardeep Singh Gill finished sixth with a best throw of 19.25m.
In the women’s discus throw, Seema Kaliramana finished 4th with a throw of 56.15m.
India secured six medals today, bringing the overall tally to 14.
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