At the 26th Asian Athletics Championships 2025 in Gumi, South Korea, many Indian athletes showcased their skills. Thanks to their efforts, India concluded their campaign in second place, securing a total of 24 medals, including 8 gold, 10 silver and 6 bronze. Only China finished ahead of India with a total of 32 medals, including 19 gold, 9 silver and 4 bronze.
While there were several top-notch performances from the Indian athletes, a few were standout performers. Here are the top five…
1 . Gulveer Singh
26-year-old Gulveer Singh from Uttar Pradesh, bagged two coveted gold medals at the Asian Athletics Championships.
He gave India a golden start on Day 1 by winning the gold medal in the 10,000m, with an impressive timing of 28:38.63. With this victory, he became only the third Indian man to win gold in the 10,000m at the Asian Championships after Hari Chand (1975) and G Lakshmanan (2017).
Living up to the expectations as the national record holder, Gulveer clinched his second gold medal on Friday with a brilliant performance in the 5000m, clocking 13:24.77. He is now only the third Indian to win gold in the 5000m at the Asian Championships, after Gopal Saini (1981) and Lakshmanan (2017).
Notably, Gulveer had won a bronze medal in the 5000m at the last edition of the Asian Championships held in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Pooja Singh.
18-year-old Pooja Singh flies high with a stunning 1.89m leap to claim the high jump gold medal, setting a new personal best. With this jump she broke her own U-20 national record and became only the second Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships. She now joins the elite list of Bobby Aloysius, who won gold in (2000) and silver in (2002).
Remarkably, Pooja achieved this feat with broken spikes patched up using kinesiology tape. Although the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) offered her a new pair, she chose to stick with her old ones, believing they wouldn’t let her down. She even made an ambitious attempt at 1.92m to equal the senior national record set by Sahana Kumari in 2012, but narrowly missed clearing the bar.
“The greatest performance from an Indian perspective at AAC2025 in Gumi for me is Pooja’s.” Tejaswin Shankar ( the national record holder in high jump and decathlon) posted on X.
3 . Parul Chaudhary
National record holder in both the 3000m steeplechase and 5000m, Parul Chaudhary delivered a remarkable performance, clinching silver medals in both events at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025.
In the 3000m steeplechase, Parul clocked an impressive 9:12.46, bettering her own personal best and securing qualification for the World Athletics Championships 2025.
She followed it up with another stellar run in the 5000m, finishing second with a timing of 15:15.33. With this, Parul became only the second woman in the history of the Asian Athletics Championships to win more than two medals in the 5000m. Her medal tally in the 5000m event includes a bronze in Doha (2019), silver in Bangkok (2023) and now another silver in Gumi (2025).
Parul has so far won a total of five medals in her Asian Athletics Championships career.
- Sachin Yadav
In the absence of Neeraj Chopra, India’s second-best javelin thrower of the season rose to the occasion at the Asian Athletics Championships. It was Sachin Yadav’s first international outing, and he made it memorable by winning a silver medal, his maiden international podium finish. He finished behind Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem who won the gold with a 86.40m throw.
With fans placing high expectations on Sachin in the absence of Neeraj, he certainly lived up to the hype. Although he had a shaky start in the final, failing to cross the 80m mark in his first four attempts. Sachin turned things around in his fifth, registering a confident 83.08m. Then in his final throw he came back even stronger with a throw of 85.16m, which secured him the silver medal. With that 85m plus throw, Sachin became only the fourth Indian to achieve this feat joining the elite club of Neeraj, Shivpal Singh and Kishore Jena.
- Animesh Kujur
One of the most impressive performances from the Indian contingent came in the 200m event from 21-year-old sprinter Animesh Kujur, who broke his own national record to win a historic medal at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025.
India have always struggled to get medals in 200m at Asian level, but Kujur delivered a strong performance in the 200m final, clocking 20.32 seconds to clinch the bronze medal. He finished behind Japan’s Ujawa (20.12) and Saudi Arabia’s Atafi ( 20.31). With this achievement in Gumi, he became only the second Indian man to win a medal in the 200m at the Asian Championships in the last 52 years.