National record holder Gulveer Singh gave India its first gold medal at the ongoing Asian Athletics Championships by winning the men’s 10,000m race on the opening day of the event in Gumi, South Korea. Earlier in the day, race walker Servin Sebastian opened India’s account with a bronze in the men’s 20km race walk competition.

The 26-year-old Gulveer clocked 28 minutes 38.63 seconds to win the gold on Tuesday. With this feat, Gulveer became only the third Indian man in the history of the Asian Athletics Championships to win a gold medal in the 10,000m event, after Hari Chand (1975) and G. Lakshmanan (2017).

Advertisement

Gulveer, who set the national record earlier this year by clocking 27:00.22, also owns an Asian Games bronze, which he won in 2023 with a time of 28:17.21.

Japan’s Mebuki Suzuki (28:43.84) claimed the silver, while Bahrain’s Albert Kibichi Rop (28:46.82) secured the bronze.

Meanwhile, the other Indian in the fray, Sawan Barwal, finished a heartbreaking fourth with a timing of 28:50.53.

Earlier in the day, Servin Sebastian clinched the bronze medal in the men’s 20km race walk. The 25-year-old clocked a new personal best of 1:21:13.60 to win his first international medal, finishing behind China’s Wang Zhaozhao (1:20:36.90) and Japan’s Kento Yoshikawa (1:20:44.90) on the podium in the tournament’s first event.

On Monday, Sebastian had stated that his aim was to improve upon his previous personal best (1:21:23, set earlier this year during his gold-winning effort at the Uttarakhand National Games). “The local weather conditions in the morning are conducive for distance events,” he had said.

Amit, the other Indian in the field, finished fifth with a time of 1:22:14.30.

Elsewhere, India’s decathlon star Tejaswin Shankar began his campaign on a positive note. At the end of Day 1, the Delhi athlete topped the leaderboard with 4205 points, followed by Yuma Maruyama of Japan (4065) and Fei Xiang of China (3875).

In the men’s 400m, Vishal TK finished third with a new personal best of 46.05s to automatically qualify for the final on Wednesday. However, Jay Kumar (46.87s), the other Indian in the fray, failed to secure one of the two fastest-loser spots, as athletes finishing fourth and fifth in the second semifinal had better timings.

In the women’s javelin throw, Annu Rani’s bid for a third Asian Championships medal ended with a fourth-place finish. Annu opened with a 56.92m throw and slipped to second after a foul in her second attempt. She produced her best effort—58.30m—in the third round, but after a 58.11m throw in the fourth, she dropped out of the top three. A penultimate round effort of 57.80m and a final-round foul dashed her medal hopes.

Looking ahead to Wednesday, all eyes will be on decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, who will battle for gold against his Japanese rival. Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Aboobacker will feature in the men’s triple jump final.

The men’s 400m final will see Vishal TK in action, while the women’s 400m final will include Rupal Chaudhary and Vithya Ramraj. In the men’s 1500m final, Yoonus Shah will carry the country’s hopes, while Lili Das and Pooja will represent India in the women’s 1500m final. In the women’s 10,000m event, Sanjivani Baburao and Seema will aim for a podium finish as India looks to improve on its third-place finish in Bangkok two years ago.