Asian Athletics C’ships: Sable, Jyothi, women’s 4x400m relay team grab golds on Day 3

It was a golden day for India on Day 3 of the 26th Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, as the women’s 4x400m relay team came up with a season’s best effort to end a 12-year wait for a gold medal.

Earlier, star hurdler Jyothi Yarraji delivered a sensational performance, clocking 12.96 seconds to set a new meet record and successfully defend her women’s 100m hurdles title. Her win came shortly after national record holder Avinash Sable made history by becoming the first Indian man in 36 years to win gold in the 3000m steeplechase at the event.

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Later in the evening, the men’s 4x400m relay team settled for the silver medal while India achieved a 2-3 in women’s long jump with Ancy Sojan (6.33m) winning a silver and Shaili Singh (6.30m) taking the bronze.

This takes India’s overall medal tally to 14, including five golds at the end of the third day’s competitions.

The women’s quartet of Jisna Mathew, Rupal Chaudhary, Kunja Rajitha and Subha Venkatesan came up with a season best timing of 3:34.18s to finish on top of the podium. Vietnam took the silver with 3:34.77s while Sri Lanka bagged the bronze with 3:36.67s.

Their male counterparts, comprising the quartet of Jay Kumar, Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil Saji and Vishal TK, however, failed to recreate the magic and ended up with a silver after clocking 3:03.67s. Qatar took the gold with 3:03.52s while China ended up with 3:03.73s for the bronze.

Earlier, Sable opened the gold rush for India on Day 3 with a season best time of 8:20.92 in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final before Jyothi, the national record holder in women’s 100m hurdles, doubled the joy with the addition of another yellow metal in India’s kitty.

Jyothi initially trailed at the start of her race before a late surge helped her defend her title. She had also finished first in the previous edition in Bangkok in 2023. Japan’s Yumi Tanaka beat China’s Wu Yanni for the silver medal by 0.007s.

Meanwhile, Sable, the Asian Games gold medalist, trailed Yutaro Niinae of Japan at the start of the final lap but powered through to take the win comfortably in the end. Niinae eventually settled for the silver after finishing 8:24.41 while Qatar’s Zakaria Elahlaami picked the bronze with a Personal Best effort of 8:27.12.

With that effort, the 30-year-old Sable, who won a silver medal at the Doha edition in 2019, ended a drought that lasted over three decades and became only the third Indian after Harbel Singh (1975) and Dina Ram (1989) to pick the yellow metal in the event.

The Asian Championship was Sable’s third event of the season after two Diamond League appearances in Xiamen and Shaoxing, where he finished 13th (8:22.59s) and eighth (8:23.85s), respectively.

While Sable has already met the entry standard of 8:15.00s for the World Championships in September in Tokyo on the basis of his performance at the Paris Olympics 2024 where he finished 11th in 8:14.18s, he will be eager to get better in the coming months to ensure a podium finish in the Japanese capital city.

In women’s long jump, Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh ensured a 2-3 finish. While Ancy came up with a best effort of 6.33m, Sahili’s effort of 6.30m was enough for a third place finish. Iran’s Reihaneh Mobini Arani clinched the gold with an effort of 6.40m.

The afternoon session was earlier delayed due to inclement weather conditions.

Elsewhere, India’s Samardeep Singh Gill finished sixth in the men’s shot put event after a best effort of 19.25m. Mohammadreza Tayebiseifkoti of Iran picked the gold with 20.32m, China’s Xing Jialiang bagged the silver with 19.97m while Mohammed Daoud B Tolu of Saudi Arabia got bronze with 19.92m. Similarly, high jumper Sarvesh Kushare missed out on a podium finish after failing to clear the bar set at 2.23m height.

In women’s Heptathlon, Nandini Agasara maintained her lead with 3,610 points after the completion of four events in the discipline. Trailing her at the second and third positions are China’s Liu Jingyi (3412 points) and Cai Juan Chen of Chinese Taipei with 3410 points, respectively. The remaining three events – long jump, javelin throw and 800m – will take place tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the women’s 10,000m final, which was stopped yesterday due to adverse weather conditions, was held from the start on Thursday. India’s Sanjeevani Jadhav clocked a season’s best of 33:08.17sec, finishing fifth, followed closely by Seema in sixth at 33:08.23sec. The event was dominated by Daisy Jepkemei of Kazakhstan (30:48.44), ahead of Japan’s Ririrak Hironika (30:56.32) and Mikuni Yada (31:12.21).