22nd Asian Athletics Championship ended here Sunday : India bagged 29 including 12 gold medals and Make a history
Bhubaneswar, 10th July: For the first time Indian contingent proved its mettle at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships held here at Kalinga Stadium bagging a dozen gold medals and created history. Moreover, India ended China’s hegemony in Athletics in the Asian region. It is the best ever medal haul by Indian athletes and has placed the country on the top of the table. For The first time India ended the Asian Athletics Championships with 29 medals. The Championship ended here on Sunday night.
In a stunning show, the hosts clinched five gold medals on the final day to top the medal tally for first time in the history of the Asian Athletics Championships, pushing China to second spot. This was India’s most-successful campaign in the event ever. The hosts ended with 29 medals (12 gold, 5 silver and 12 bronze), their highest-ever haul. On Sunday, Govindan Lakshmanan, heptathlete Swapna Barman, javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams continued India’s gold rush.
While Swapna emerged victorious in the heptathlon, Lakshmanan won his second gold medal in the Championships. After winning the men’s 5000m gold on the opening day, he finished the Championships on a high winning the 10000m. Gopi Thonakal won silver in the event.
Neeraj threw an impressive 85.23m, a record, to win another gold for India while the women’s 4x400m relay team gave the hosts another reason to smile. The men’s relay team also bagged gold. Devinder Singh Kang, who was embroiled in a marijuana positive test case, was third in javelin by clearing a distance of 83.29m. Earlier, Archana Adhav finished on top of the podium with a magnificent timing of 2:05:00 in the women’s 800m, ahead of second-placed Nimali Waliwarsha Konda of Sri Lanka (2:05:23) and third-placed Gayanthika Thushari (2:05:27), also of Sri Lanka. But she was later disqualified. While India’s Lili Das finished fifth with a timing of 2:07:49, race favourite Tintu Luka failed to finish.
Jinson Johnson won the bronze medal in the men’s 800m final. Johnson clocked 1:50.07 to finish third.
India had a disappointing run in the women’s discus throw as three contenders failed to win a medal. Kamalpreet Kaur Bal, Seema Punia and Himani Singh finished 5th, 6th and 7th, respectively.
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: A SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR READERS