AFI media
New Delhi
The second day of the 25th Asian Athletics Championships being held in Bangkok, Thailand, turned out to be quite productive for the Indian athletes as they were successful in winning five medals, three of them gold. According to information reaching here, the Indian team also won bronze medals in women’s 400m and decathlon. India had won one bronze through Abhishek Pal on the opening day in the men’s 10,000m.
Despite rain-soaked Suphachalasai Stadium track on Thursday evening, India’s 23 year old Jyothi Yarraji didn’t let the opportunity slip from her hand and surged ahead of her Japanese rival Asuka Terada to win India’s first gold of the day in the women’s 100 hurdles. “I was mentally prepared to win gold. But there was a bit of distraction as I lost my rhythm on the seventh hurdle. It was good that I managed to stay ahead of my rivals,” Jyothi said in the post media interaction.
Jyothi’s winning time was 13.09 seconds, while Asuka clocked 13.13 secs for silver. Japan also won bronze through Masumi Aoki, whose time was 13.26 seconds.
India’s Nithya Ramraj was fourth with a time of 13.55 secs.
India’s second gold came in the men’s 1500m through Ajay Kumar Saroj, who clocked 3:41.51 seconds. Jinson Johnson was 11th with a time of 3:46.91 secs.
While Abdulla Aboobacker won the men’s triple jump title. His best jump was 16.92m.
Quarter-miler Aishwarya Mishra added a bronze medal to the medal tally on Thursday. She clocked 53.07 seconds to finish third in the women’s 400m.
Tejaswin Shankar won the second bronze for the Indian team in the decathlon.
In the men’s 400m, India’s Muhammed Ajmal ran a personal best of 45.36 secs but settled for fourth place. Rajesh Ramesh clocked 45.61 secs to finish sixth.
In women’s high jump, Pooja and Rubina Yadav were both tied at seventh position. They cleared 1.75m in their first attempts and failed to clear 1.80m in the second.
Meanwhile, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will have a meeting to deliberate on the performance of the athletes competing in Bangkok for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
According to Adille Sumariwalla, president, AFI, it is strange that the Olympic Council of Asian (OCA) has an entry deadline of 75 days before the start of the Asian Games. “It has hugely impacted the performance of the athletes,” he said.
“The Indian athletes are well prepared to perform in all weather conditions,” Sumariwalla added.
Results:
Women: 400m: Ramanayaka Nadeesha (Sri Lanka) 52.61 secs, Farida Solieva (Uzbekistan) 52.95 secs, Aishwarya Mishra (India) 53.07 secs.
10,000m: Haruka Kokai (Japan) 32:59.36 secs, Momoka Kawaguchi (Japan) 33:18.72 secs, Bayartsogt Munkhzaya (Mongolia) 33:24.79 secs. Sanjivani Jadhav (India) 34:04.47 (4th).
100mh: Jyothi Yarraji (India) 13.09 secs, Asuka Terada (Japan) 13.13 secs, Masumi Aoki (Japan) 13.26 secs.
Men
400m: Kentaro Sato (Japan) 45.00 secs, Fuga Sato (Japan) 45.13 secs Yousef Ahmed Masrahi (Saudi Arabia) 45.19 secs. Muhammed Ajmal (India) 45.36 secs 4th.
1500m: Ajay Kumar Saroj (India) 3:41.51 secs, Yusuke Takahashi (Japan) 3:42.04, Liu Dezhu (China) 3:42.30 secs.
Triple jump: Abdulla Aboobacker (India) 16.92m, Hikaru Ikehata (Japan) 16.73m, Kim Jangwoo (Korea) 16.59m.
Decathlon: Yuma Maruyama (Japan) 7745 points, Suttisak Singkhon (Thailand) 7626 points, Tejaswin Shankar (India) 7527 points.
