E-Paper
Parul, Ancy win silver, Tejaswin leads in decathlon
India women claim silver and bronze in 3000m steeplechase; Ancy Sojan leaps a personal best 6.63m to land silver in women’s long jump
For the second consecutive day, the 3000m steeplechase proved a productive race for Indian athletes as Parul Chaudhary and Priti Lamba finished second and third, after Avinash Sable won gold in the men’s event on Sunday.
Chaudhary clocked 9:27.63 minutes to finish behind Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi, who won the world championship in Budapest and set a Games record of 9:18.28. Lamba battled with Tigest Getent Mikonen of Bahrain on the home stretch to snatch bronze with a personal best effort (9:43.32).
Chaudhary set the early pace and led for the first two laps with Yavi snapping at her heels. The Bahraini, who set the Asian record at the Diamond League Finals in Eugene last month (8:50.66), comfortably eclipsed the field in the third lap and opened a gap that kept widening with each lap. She crossed the finish line to a raucous rooting, over eight seconds ahead of Chaudhary. Lamba, bunched in the chasing pack, was over seven seconds behind her compatriot but fraction of a second ahead of Mekonen.
“I think I have made India proud today with my effort. I will take this silver because Yavi is a world champion,” Chaudhary, the national record holder at 9:15.31, said. Chaudhary has been consistent through the season. She had qualified for the final at the world championships, where she set the national mark while finishing eleventh.
In women’s long jump, Ancy Sojan, 22, equalled her personal best of 6.56m and then bettered it with a final effort of 6.63m to win silver. The younger Shaili Singh, with more focus on her, finished fifth with a best effort of 6.48m. China's Shiqi Xiong won gold (6.73m).
Lamba had to work hard to come into podium contention, and her medal was the realisation of her Asian Games dream after missing 2018 Jakarta when a fracture in her right ankle had put her out of contention. After a tough five years, she could finally stand on the podium and kiss the medal.
“I fractured my ankle in 2017 and resumed training in 2018. In 2019, I had some good performances but in 2020 I got Covid. I started slowly in 2021 and finally found my rhythm in 2022. Then, I had a calf injury that put me out of competition for at least three months. Then I came back this year, so this medal means a lot to me,” the railways employee said.
Having missed a medal at the Asian Athletics Championships narrowly in Bangkok three months back, Lamba was determined not to repeat the mistake. Lamba had finished fourth (9:48.48), 0.02 seconds behind third-placed Reimi Yoshimura of Japan.
“In Thailand, I was too stressed about winning a medal. Had I run for a good timing there, I would have won a medal anyway. I took that competition a bit lightly and relaxed. But the moment I relaxed, the Japanese girl went past me and I lost out on a medal. In a way, it is good that I erred there and learned my lessons rather than committing that mistake here,” she said.
She dedicated her success to her ailing father Jagbir Lamba. “He told me he would die peacefully if I won a medal at the Asian Games. Now he tells me he’ll live long enough to watch me run at the Paris Olympics,” Lamba said. Her father works at a petrol pump in their village and suffers from a debilitating health condition. “He met with an accident many years back that required major surgeries. He is not in the best of health,” she said.
Tejaswin Day 1 leader
In decathlon, national high jump record-holder Tejaswin Shankar drove home his prowess in the event by clearing 2.21m before finishing the first day as leader. After the first five events, his tally was 4,260 points (100m 11.12 secs, long jump 7.37m, shot put 13.39m, high jump 2.21m, 400m 49.67 secs). China’s Sun Qihao (4,010) and Thailand’s Suttisak Singkhon (4,004) were second and third respectively.
Mixed relay upgrade
The Indian 4X400m mixed relay team won silver after being upgraded from bronze. The quartet of Muhammed Ajmal, R Vithya Ramraj, Rajesh Ramesh and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3:14.34. The Indians had finished behind winners Bahrain (3:14.02 secs) and Sri Lanka, who were disqualified for a lane infringement. Kazakhstan, who were fourth (3:24.85s), were upgraded to bronze.
