Indian athletes surge to podium glory

Nagoya: India came within a whisker of adding another gold medal to its tally at the Asian Games on Sunday, as Ancy Sojan and Sarvesh Kushare led their respective finals for long periods before settling for silver, while Parul Chaudhary and Harita Bhadra added bronzes to cap off a productive day in track and field.

Ancy appeared on course for the women’s long jump gold when she produced a best effort of 6.53m on her fifth attempt, but China’s Huang Yingying had the last word, responding with a 6.55m jump to snatch the top spot in the final. The margin was just two centimetres, leaving Ancy with silver.

The disappointment was compounded by the fact that Shaili Singh also narrowly missed out on a medal. Shaili’s best effort of 6.42m was enough to put her in bronze-medal contention, but China’s Mengyi Tan produced a 6.46m jump to move ahead of her.

In the men’s high jump, Sarvesh Kushare also led for a good part of the competition before surrendering the advantage to Chinese Taipei’s Chao Hsuan-Fu. Kushare and Chao were level at 2.25m, but the Indian failed to clear the height on his first attempt, while Chao went over on his first try.

Kushare subsequently cleared 2.25m on his second attempt, but the earlier miss meant he slipped to second and had to settle for silver.

Parul, meanwhile, secured her second successive Asian Games bronze in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, bettering her previous mark with a personal best of 9:08.67. Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi won gold, while Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto Tanui took silver in 9:06.82.

Earlier, Harita Bhadra added another athletics medal by finishing third in the women’s 200m final in 23.20 seconds. Singapore’s Shanti Pereira won gold in a season-best 22.78, with China’s Chen Yujie taking silver in 22.93. Harita edged Japan’s Ido Abigeirufuka, who finished fourth in 23.21, while India’s Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland was sixth in 23.48. With India’s track and field athletes producing four medals, the country now has 37 medals with four gold and 16 bronze.

Tejaswin claims bronze in men’s decathlon

Star Indian track and field athlete Tejaswin Shankar claimed the bronze medal in men’s decathlon after he won the 1500m race -- the last event of a highly taxing competition -- at the Asian Games here on Sunday.

Shankar won the bronze after finishing third with 7,934 points. National record holder Shankar entered the second day at the top of the standings with 4,338 points after a strong opening day across the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m.

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