Indian athletes made sure that India still remains on top of the Asian Athletics Championship table as they clinched a total of five medals, including one gold. These medals might turn out crucial in the latter stages of the tournament as India has a five medal lead over the second placed People's Republic of China.
India's national record holder and 2010 Asian Games gold medallist Sudha Singh carried forward her legacy as she claimed the first medal and only gold of the day in the 3000m steeplechase event. She clocked 9:59:47 and finished 14 seconds ahead of second placed Hyo Gyong of North Korea.
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Meanwhile, Sheena NV of Kerala bagged a bronze in the Women’s Triple Jump as she finished 30 and 20 cm behind Kazakhstan’s Mariya Ochinnikova and Irina Ektova respectively.
India’s only silver of the day was medaled in the Women’s 400m hurdles as they continued to dominate over their male counterparts. Anu Raghavan finished just one second behind Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi with a timing of 57.22 seconds. The other two Indians in the finals, Jauna Murmu and Arpitha M finished sixth and seventh respectively.
Jabir MP was the only male medallist of Day 3 of India as he made India proud by winning a bronze in the Men’s 400m hurdles. He achieved this feat in one of the most competitive races of this tournament as the difference between first and eighth placed athlete was just 1.75 seconds. Santhosh Kumar T also finished sixth in this nail-biting race with a timing of 50.95 seconds.
India’s last medal of the day proved that India does not only have individual stars. The women’s shined again as they bagged the bronze medal in the 4*100 metres relay. Merlin Joseph, Srabani Nanda, Himashree Roy and last day’s gold medallist Dutee Chand clocked 44.57 seconds as they finished just 1.04 seconds behind leaders Kazakhstan and seven-hundredths of a second behind China.
India is now just three medals short of surpassing it’s biggest haul in the Asian Championships which was in Jakarta in 1985 and New Delhi in 1989. With two more days in hand, Indian athletes look set to make the country proud at the big stage.
