India added six more medals on Day 2 of the 26th Asian Athletics Championships, strengthening their position in the standings. The highlight of the day was the successful defence of the 4x400m mixed relay title in Gumi, South Korea.
Star decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, triple jumper Praveen Chithravel, and middle-distance runners Rupal Chaudhary and Pooja also contributed to the medal tally, each securing silver in their respective events.
The Indian team, comprising Rupal Chaudhary, Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan, Vishal TK, and Subha Venkatesan, took the gold with a timing of 3:18.12 seconds. This is India’s third medal in mixed relay at the Asian Championships, following the gold from 2023 and the silver from 2019, when the event was first introduced in the competition.
Running the first leg, Santosh gave India a brilliant start by leading the home stretch before passing the baton to Rupal, who faced a tough competition from her Chinese counterpart. Rupal managed to hold on to the charge before passing it to Vishal, who overcame the initial pressure to continue the momentum for Subha to close off the race in style.
China and Sri Lanka, who initially settled for silver and bronze, respectively, were later disqualified from the 4x400m mixed relay final. Therefore, Kazakhstan, who finished with 3:22.70 were upgraded to silver while host Korea (3:22.87) were given the bronze.
Earlier, quarter-miler Rupal also opened India’s account on Day 2, clocking 52.68 seconds to clinch the silver medal in the women’s 400m final. Fellow Indian Vithya Ramraj was placed fifth with a time of 53.00 seconds. The gold went to Japan’s Nanako Matsumoto (52.17s), while Uzbekistan’s Jonbibi Hukmova (52.79s) took bronze.
In men’s 400m, Vishal TK narrowly missed out on a bronze despite clocking a Personal Best of 45.57s, as he trailed by just 0.02s behind Kalinga Kumarage Hewa Kumarage of Sri Lanka for the third place. Japan’s Kentaro Sato (45.50s) wins silver while Ammar Ismail Y Ibrahim (45.33m) of Qatar bags the gold.
Thereafter, Pooja doubled the joy for the Indian contingent with another silver medal, after clocking 4:10.83 in the women’s 1500m, before Yoonus Shah clocked 3:43.03 in the men’s 1500m to finish with a bronze. Lili Das finished fourth in women’s 1500m with 4:13.81s.
In men’s triple jump, Praveen Chithravel outperformed his compatriot and defending champion Abdulla Aboobaker to win the silver medal in tough and rainy conditions, by registering his best jump of 16.90m. Aboobaker finished in fourth place with a best effort of 16.72m.
China’s Zhu Yaming (17.06m) clinched the gold medal while Korea’s Gyumin Yu took home the bronze medal with 16.82m.
Second Asian championship medal for Tejaswin
National record holder Tejaswin Shankar became the first Indian to medal twice in the decathlon event at the Asian Athletics Championships. The Delhi athlete finished with 7618 points to clinch silver in the 2025 edition, following his bronze from the 2023 edition.
Going into the 1500m race, the final event of the decathlon, Tejaswin was third in the standings. The Indian registered a timing of 4:37.99s, which game him 693 points and lifted him to the silver medal position.
China’s Fei Xiang claimed gold with a final points tally of 7,634, while Keisuke Okuda of Japan won the bronze medal with 7,602 points.
Earlier on Tuesday, national record holder Gulveer Singh snared India’s first gold with a top finish in the men’s 10,000m event, while Servin Sebastian clinched the 20km race walk bronze on the opening day of the competition.
Meanwhile, the women’s 10000m final was stopped midway with 12 laps to go due to adverse weather conditions in the Korean city. Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav and Seema are the two Indians participating in the event.
In other events, Shaili Singh and Ancy Sojan made the final of the women’s long jump event. Shaili had a best effort 6.17m, the third best in the 20-woman field while Ancy came up with an effort of 6.14m to secure a place in the final. Hurdler Jyoti Yarraji also qualified for the next round after finishing with a time of 13.18secs in her heat. She crossed the line in third position.
The third day of the 26th Asian Athletics Championships promises high-octane action as several top Indian athletes take the field, with national record holder Avinash Sable leading the charge in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final. Shaili and Ancy will compete in the women’s long jump final, aiming for podium finishes. Samardeep Singh will feature in the men’s shot put final, while Sarvesh Kushare will vie for a medal in the men’s high jump final. In the women’s 3000m steeplechase, Parul Chaudhary and Ankita are expected to headline a closely contested race, and Jyothi will look to add to India’s medal tally in the women’s 100m hurdles final.