Asian Athletics Championships: Avinash Sable Wins Gold After 36 Years; India Climb To Second Position

Gumi: Indian athletes are aiming for the gold in the Asian Athletics Championship and an interruption by heavy rain on day three of the competition didn’t deter their goal. The Indian contingent signed off Thursday with three golds added to their tally and climbed to the second spot in the points table from the third overtaking Japan. Overall, the nation has won five gold, six silver and three bronze medals so far.

The defending champion in 100m Hurdles, Jyothi, had a slow start to the first hurdle. However, she got into a late burst amidst a tussle with China's Wu Yanni and Japan's Yumi Tanaka. The Indian runner plunged towards the finish line just after the final hurdle overtaking both her rivals. She not only won a gold, but also scripted a championship record with a timing of 12.96s.

National record holder in 3000m steeplechase Avinash Sable, dominated his event with ease. He won the race with a timing of 8.20:92s and became the first Indian since Deena Ram in 1989 to win gold in this discipline. Yutaro Niinae of Japan (8:24.41) and Zakaria Elahlaami of Qatar (8:27.12) finished in second and third position respectively.

Another gold came from the women's 4x400m relay team as the quartet of Jishna Mathew, Rupal Chaudhary, Kunja Rajitha and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3:34.19s. They won the gold for India in this discipline after 12 years.

The men's 4x400 metre relay team bagged a silver medal (3:03.67s) finishing behind Qatar (3:03.52s). The quartet of Jay Kumar, Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil Saji and Vishal TK displayed a good show but eventually failed to finish at the top of the podium.