Indian athletics steals the spotlight as Asian Games medal tally hits 60

New Delhi [India], October 3 (ANI): India kept their pursuit of winning 100 medals in the Asian Games alive as the country clinched its 60th medal, with its athletics team taking the spotlight on Monday.

The day was predominantly centered around athletics, where India’s men’s team initially secured the third spot in the 4x400m mixed relay event. 

However, they were bumped up to second place after the Sri Lankan team was disqualified due to a lane infringement. 

The Indian team comprising Muhammed Ajmal, Vithya Ramraj, Rajesh Ramesh, and Subha Venkatesan clocked an impressive time of 3:14.34s, securing the silver medal. 

Bahrain topped the chart with a timing of 3:14.02s, whereas Kazakhstan with their season-best timing of 3:24.85s secured the bronze medal. 

Meanwhile, Indian athlete Ancy Sojan Edappilly bagged a silver medal in the women’s long jump. 

On her fifth try, she registered her personal best of 6.63m and secured a podium finish. China’s Shiqi Xiong also broke through her limits and gave a personal best attempt of 6.73m. The bronze medal was secured by Nga Yan from Hong Kong, China with a distance of 6.50 which was also her personal best. 

Shaili Singh was another Indian athlete who was competing in the women’s long jump. But her efforts were not enough to bring another medal for India. She ended up in the fifth position with an attempt of 6.48m. 

Earlier in the day, Parul Chaudhary and Priti secured silver and bronze medals respectively in the women’s 3000-metre steeplechase. 

Parul gave her personal best timing of 9:27.63s to secure a podium finish behind Bahrain’s Winfred Mutile who set the Asian Games record timing of 9:18.28s. 

On the other hand, Priti clocked her personal best timing of 9:43.32s to walk away with a bronze.

Indian athlete Vithya Ramraj tied with PT Usha’s 39-year-old national record as she qualified for the final of women’s 400 m hurdles.

Other athletes like Jesse Sandesh, Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath, and Krishnan Kumar also made it to the medal round. 

In women’s 400 m hurdles, Vithya finished at the top of her heat one and number two overall with personal best timings of 55.42 seconds to be among the top five athletes to go to the final.

In the second heat, Kaveram Sinchal Ravi finished at fourth and bottom in heat two with timings of 58.62, unable to qualify for the medal round. She also finished tenth overall. 

The India skating contingent captured its first medal at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou as the women’s speed skating 3000 m relay team consisting of Heeral Sadhu, Kartika Jagadeeswaran and Aarathy Kasturi Raj secured a bronze medal.

With the timings of 4:34.861 minutes, India managed to secure a bronze medal. The gold medal went to Chinese Taipei (4:19.447 minutes) and the silver went to South Korea (4:21.146 minutes). 

Coming to Hockey, the Indian men’s hockey team enjoyed another goal fest and sealed their place in the semi-final as they continued their winning run in the ongoing Asian Games with a thumping 12-0 victory over Bangladesh on Monday. 

Skipper Harmanpreet Singh and forward Mandeep Singh stole the limelight with a hattrick each, while Abhishek (41′, 57) scored a brace for India. Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (23′), Amit Rohidas (28′), Nilakanta Sharma (47′), and Gurjant Singh (56′) also scored a goal each to help India get the win.