India clinched five medals, including a gold medal on Day 4 of the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok. India now have a good chance of finishing second in the medals tally on Sunday.
Indian athletes Krishan Kumar and Mohammed Afsal qualified for the final of the Men's 800m race. Krishan Kumar topped Heat 2 with 1:48.97s, while Mohammed finished third with 1:48.86s in Heat 1. They will be in action for the medal on Sunday. In the Women's 800m heats, Kumari Chanda and Lavika Sharma made it to the final as well.
In the Men's High Jump, Sarvesh Kushare clinched the silver medal by clearing the height of 2.26m. He went for his personal best height of 2.28m in the final attempt, but narrowly missed it out. This is the biggest medal of Sarvesh Kushare's career. Notably, he won the South Asian Games in 2019.
Murali Sreeshankar had a good start in the Men's long jump final, but Taipei's Lin Yu Tang dominated the latter part of the race. He ended with the best of 8.40m. Murali Sreeshankar completed 8.37m in his final attempt to settle for silver. On his way, he also qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024.
Jyothi Yarraji, who had already won gold for India in the championships, recorded her personal best of 23.29s to qualify for the final. She will be in the action on Sunday.
India's gold medal on Day 4 came from the mixed 4x400m relay team. Rajesh Ramesh, Amoj Jacob, Aishwarya Mishra and Subha Venkatesan helped India to clinch yellow metal in the Championships. Nanako Matsumoto of Japan and Subha Venkatesan had a close final lap, but the Indian surpassed the Japan star to win at 3:14.70s.
Swapna Barman, on the other hand, clinched a silver medal as the defending champion Ekaterina Voronina proved too good for the Indian heptathlete. Barman finished with 5,840 points, while Voronina topped the race with 6,098 points.
Asian Athletics Championships 2023: Updated Medal Tally after Day 4
After the end of Day 4, India stays in the third position with six gold, four silver and four bronze medals. China, which is currently in second place, has six gold, seven silver and four bronze medals.
Japan continues to top the medals tally. They have 29 medals overall, including 11 gold, 10 silver and eight bronze medals. Kazakhstan stays in the fourth spot with one gold, two silver and a bronze. With a gold medal on Day 4, Uzbekistan also moves to fourth place with same number of medals as Kazakhstan.