There was no gold for India on Sunday in the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok but by winning 13 medals on the final day, India nearly doubled its haul of 14 medals from the first four days. With 6 gold, 12 silver and 9 bronze medals, India finished third behind Japan (16 gold, 11 silver, 10 bronze) and China (8 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze).
It was India’s best visit to an Asian Championships since winning 10 gold in a total of 22 medals in 1985. Of course, India had larger collection in 1989 and 2017 when the continental competition was held at home in New Delhi and Bhubaneswar. To have achieved this without Neeraj Chopra, Avinash Sable, Praveen Chithravel and Jeswin Aldrin is creditable.
There were a couple of surprises on Sunday.
Abha Khatua became only the second India woman Shot Putter after Manpreet Kaur to register an 18m effort in winning the silver medal, equaling her senior’s National Record of 18.06. For someone whose best was 17.13m and best this year was 16.57m in the Federation Cup in Ranchi on May 16, the 18m put was a surprise indeed. She had only one other effort over 17m on Sunday.
Outstanding performance by the Indian contingent at the 25th Asian Athletics Championship 2023!
Our athletes won 27 medals, the highest medal tally on foreign soil in an edition of the Championships. Congrats to our athletes for this achievement. It fills our hearts with pride. pic.twitter.com/vjYlSLDvnJ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 17, 2023
The women’s 4x400m relay team, troubled by injuries and losses to anti-doping rules, provided the other surprise by picking up a bronze medal. It put up a gallant fight after the lead runner, teenager Rezoana Mallick Heena trailed in the last place among the six teams. Aishwarya Kailash Mishra lifted the squad to fourth place with a fine run in the second lap.
Jyothika Dandi Sri improved it to third place. Subha Venkatesan, one of the stars of the Mixed Relay victory, found her way past a tiring Japanese Ami Yamamoto but Sri Lanka’s Tharushi Disssanayaka, who won the 800m gold earlier in the evening, had the speed and stamina to edge ahead in the race for silver behind the gold medal winning Vietnam squad.
India will be disappointed with Rajesh Ramesh not being able to hold on to the lead and come home winner in the men’s relay. After Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal and Mijo Chacko Kurian combined to place India a few metres ahead of Sri Lanka, Rajesh Ramesh was overtaken on the backstraight by Hewa Kumarage to help Sri Lanka win with a new Championship record.
DP Manu, struggling with form last month, not getting to 77m in the National Inter-State Athletics Championships, raised his game in Bangkok to average just over 78m with his four valid marks in his first five attempts. But with Pakistan’s Muhammad Yasir taking the second spot with his final throw, Manu had to produce his best throw under pressure to take the silver medal.
Jyothi Yarraji claimed her second medal of the meet, a silver in the women’s 200m to add to her 100m Hurdles gold. Along with Long Jumper Shaili Singh, Jyothi Yarraji offered indication that there is quite some exciting talent that can hold its own at the Asian level, if not be very competitive in global competitions too.
Parul Chaudhary, women’s 3000m Steeplechase gold medalist, returned to claim silver in the 5000m, with Ankita Dhyani adding a bronze on debut. Chanda equaled her best time for the women’s 800m silver while Krishan Kumar shadowed Qatar’s Abubakar Hayder H Abdalla in the men’s 800m and though he came up with a personal best time, had to satisfy himself with silver.
The results (finals):
Men
200m: 1. Towa Uzawa (Japan) 20.23 seconds (New AAC Record. Old: 20.28, Femi Seun Ogunode, Qatar, Wuhan, 2015); 2. Chun Han Tang (Chinese Taipei) 20.48; 3. Koki Ueyama (Japan) 20.53.
800m: 1. Abubakar Hayder H Abdalla (Qatar) 1:45.53; 2. Krishan Kumar (India) 1:45.88; 3. Ebrahim Alzofairi (Kuwait) 1:46.11; 7. Mohammed Afsal (India) 1:48.77.
5000m: 1. Hyuga Endo (Japan) 13:34.94; 2. Kazuya Shiojri (Japan) 13:43.92; 3. Gulveer Singh (India) 13:48.33; 14. Abhishek Pal (India) 15:00.03.
4x400m Relay: 1. Sri Lanka (Singapure Dharshana, Rajakaruna Neranjan, Galabada Pabasara, Hewa Kumarage) 3:01.56 (New AAC Record. Old: 3:02.50, Qatar, Wuhan, 2015); 2. India (Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal, Mijo Chacko Kurian, Rajesh Ramesh) 3:01.80; 3. Qatar 3:04.26.
Pole Vault: 1. John Obiena Ernest (Philippines) 5.91m (New AAC record. Old: 5.71, John Obiena Ernest, Philippines, Doha, 2019); 2. Hussain Asim AlHizam (Saudi Arabia) 5.56; 3. Huang Bokai (China) 5.51.
Javelin Throw: 1. Roderik Genki Dean (Japan) 83.15m; 2. DP Manu (India) 81.01; 3. Muhammad Yasir (Pakistan) 79.93.
20km Race Walk: 1. Yutaro Murayama (Japan) 1:24:40; 2. Wang Kaihua (China) 1:25:29; 3. Vikash Singh (India) 1:29:32. Akshdeep Singh disqualified.
Women
200m: 1. Veronica Shanti Pereira (Singapore) 22.70 seconds (New AAC Record. Old: 22.74, Salwa Eid Naser, Bahrain, Doha, 2019); 2. Jyothi Yarraji (India) 23.13; 3. Li Yuting (China) 23.25.
800m: 1. Tharushi Dissanayaka (Sri Lanka) 2:00.66 (New AAC Record. Old: 2:01.16, Zhang Jian, China, Fukuoka, 1998); 2. Chanda (India) 2:01.58; 3. Gayanthika Artigala (Sri Lanka) 2:03.25. Lavika Sharma (India) Did Not Finish.
5000m: 1. Yuma Yamamoto (Japan) 15:51.16; 2. Parul Chaudhary (India) 15:52.35; 3. Ankita Dhyani (India) 16:03.33.
4x400m Relay: 1. Vietnam (Nguyen Thi Ngoc, Hoang Thi Minh Hanh, Nguyen Thi Huyen, Nguyen Thi Hang) 3:32.35; 2. Sri Lanka 3:33.27; 3. India (Rezoana Heena Mallick, Aishwarya Kailash Mishra, Jyothika Dandi Sri, Subha Venkatesan) 3:33.73.
Shot Put: 1. Song Jiayuan (China) 18.88m; 2. Abha Khataua (India) 18.06; 3. Manpreet Kaur (India) 17.00.
20km Race Walk: 1. Yang Liujing (China) 1:32:37; 2. Priyanka Goswami (India) 1:34:24; 3. Yukiko Umeno (Japan) 1:36:17; 5. Bhawna Jat (India) 1:38:26.