Tejaswin heroics
The ever dependable 25-year-old Subha Venkatesan anchored the Indian 4x400m mixed relay team to victory. Other members of the victorious Indian mixed 4x400m relay team were Santhosh KT, Rupal Chaudhary and Vishal TK. The team clocked 3:18.12 seconds.
Tejaswin Shankar was close to winning India’s third gold medal in a gruelling two-day decathlon but missed by a slender margin. Shankar said his goal in Gumi was to secure a medal, “at the end of the day what matters is a medal at the continental level.” He further elucidated his events. “I’ve not done that great with javelin and shot put, but with the track events, I feel I’ve done well. Mentally, it has been a rollercoaster ride, as I had different ways to prepare,” he added. With Asian medal secured, Tejaswin would be preparing for the next big challenges and perhaps the world championships later this year.
On Day 3, long jumpers Shaili Singh and Ancy Sojan, defending gold medallist in hurdles Jyothi Yarraji and national record holder in steeplechase Avinash Sable will be keen to add more medals.
Results: Men’s 400m: Ammar Ismail Ibrahim (Qatar) 45.33 seconds, Kentaro Sato (Japan) 45.50 seconds, Kalinga Kumarage Hewa K (Sri Lanka) 45.55 seconds, Vishal TK (India 4th) 45.57 seconds. 1500m: Kazuto Lizawa (Japan) 3:42.56 seconds, Jaeung Lee (Korea) 3:42.79 seconds, Yoonus Shah (India) 3:43.03. Triple jump: Zhu Yaming (China) 17.06m, Praveen Chithravel (India) 16.90m, Gyumin Yu (South Korea) 16.82m, Abdulla Aboobacker (India—4th) 16.72m. Decathlon: Fei Xiang (China) 7634 points, Tejaswin Shankar (India) 7618 points, Keisuke Okuda (Japan) 7602 points.
Women’s 400m: Nanaka Matsumoto (Japan) 52.17 seconds, Rupal Chaudhary (India) 52.68 seconds, Jonbibi Hukmova (Uzbekistan) 52.79 seconds, Vithya Ramraj (India—4th) 53.00 seconds. 1500m: Li Chunhul (China) 4:10.58 seconds, Pooja (India) 4:10.83 seconds, Tomoka Kimura (Japan) 4:11.56 seconds, Lili Das (India 4th) 4:13.81 seconds. Mixed 4x400m relay: India (Santhosh KT, Rupa Chaudhary, Vishal TK, Subha Venkatesan) 3:18.12 seconds, Kazakhstan 3:22.70 seconds, South Korea 3:22.87 seconds.
