New Delhi: Steeplechaser Avinash Sable and hurdler Jyothi Yarraji produced stellar performances to win gold medals at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, on Thursday.
Later, the women’s 4x400m relay team dashed to a third gold as India wrapped up a fantastic day.
With the men’s relay team (4x400m) bagging silver and Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh winning silver and bronze medals respectively in long jump, India took their medals count to 14 with two days of competition remaining.
The evening session was delayed due to a thunderstorm but once it started, Indian athletes came up with one strong showing after the other. The first to go was Sable. The two-time Olympian and Asian Games gold medallist dominated the field, clocking 8:20.92s and finished much ahead of Japanese Yutaro Niinae (8:24.41s) and Qatar’s Zakaria Elahlaami (8:27.12). Having started with the Diamond League last April, this was Sable’ season’s best.
While the medal would come as a boost ahead of the world championships in Tokyo in September, he would be equally satisfied with his tactical execution. The Armyman, whose national record stands at 8:09.91sec, made a strong start and led till about the halfway mark before tucking behind Niinae and allowing the Japanese to lead the field.
On the last lap, Sable surged ahead reclaiming the lead and, after the last water jump, he had enough in his tank to keep adding distance between him and Niinae who simply faded away. It was Sable’s second medal at the continental meet, having won silver in 2019 in Doha. The last time India won a gold in this event was in 1989 through Dina Ram.
Equally stunning was Yarraji’s gold in 100m hurdles with a new championships record of 12.96sec. Yarraji was slow off the blocks but made up with a powerful late burst, leaving behind Yumi Tanaka (13.07sec) and Wu Yanni (13.07s) in her wake. The previous championship record was held by China’s Yun Feng (12.97s) in 1998.
It was Yarraji’s second straight gold medal at the Asian meet. This one comes at a time when she has struggled with injury and going sub 13sec this season. “It has been difficult this season with injuries but I am happy to break the 13 second barrier here in a quality field,” said the Asian Games silver medallist. Before the Federation Cup Yarraji had a hamstring injury in training and went through a tough period of recovery. At the Federation Cup she clocked 13.23sec and has worked hard this month to regain full fitness.
Yarraji has also changed her stride pattern to add speed. “I used to take seven strides between hurdles before the Paris Olympics but I was getting injured. With long legs, the eight strides approach is more suited to me. It used to be my original technique and it has added to my speed,” she said before leaving for Korea.
The women’s relay quartet of Jisna Mathew, Rupal Chaudhary, Kunja Rajitha and Subha Venkatesan then clinched gold in 4x400m relay event. They clocked 3:34.18sec finishing ahead of silver-medallist Vietnam (3:34.77sec) and bronze medallist Sri Lanka (3:36.67sec). Rupal, running the second leg, gave India the lead. Rajita kept India on course despite strong challenges coming from Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Taking the baton from Rajitha, Subha then ran a powerful anchor leg to give India the gold.
The men’s 4x400m relay team of Jay Kumar, Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil Saji and Vishal TK took silver (3:03.67sec) behind Qatar (3:03.52sec). Vishal’s spirited anchor run helped him outsprint China (3:03.73sec).
In long jump, Sojan claimed silver with a leap of 6.33m and Singh took the bronze (6.30m). Iran’s Reihaneh Mobini Arani won gold with a jump of 6.40m.