Asian Championships | Jyothi, Sable and women’s 4x400m quartet make it a golden day for India

India shines at Asian Athletics Championships with six medals, including three gold, despite challenging weather conditions in South Korea.

Some of the country’s biggest medal hopes duly delivered on the big stage as India added six medals to its tally including three gold on day three of the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, on Thursday.

Jyothi Yarraji, struggling with injuries, a change in running technique and an indifferent year so far produced her best performance of the season to successfully defend her title in the 100m hurdles with a new championship record of 12.96 seconds, although it was slower than the 12.73s she had targeted for automatic World Championships qualification. This was also her first sub-13 run of the season, finishing ahead of Asian Games bronze medallist Yumi Tanaka of Japan and China’s Wu Yanni.

It was a productive outing for India and redemption time for the athletes on a day that saw the evening session delayed by more than two hours due to torrential rains and thunderstorms for the second day running.

The conditions, however, did little to halt India’s medal charge with Avinash Sable improving on his bronze from the 2023 edition to win the 3000m steeplechase and the Indian women’s 4x400m relay team scorching the track for the country’s fifth gold in the competition.

Sable, in his third international outing this year after the Diamond Leagues, clocked 8:20.92 for a season’s best to finish more than three seconds ahead of Japan’s Yutaro Niinae, who had led for a large part of the race till the final lap.

Sable also became the third Indian to win multiple medals in the event and the first gold in 36 years after Deena Ram in 1989.

The quartet of Rupal, Subha Venkatesan, Jisna Mathew and Kunja Rajitha saw the Indian women come from behind to outrun Sri Lanka and Vietnam for gold in 3:34.18 with Subha playing the perfect anchor for the second day running. The 25-year old, third at the final bend, took off with powerful strides on the final straight to add to her and India’s bronze from the 2023 edition.