NEW DELHI, June 4: India won as many as four gold medals and one bronze on the second day of the Asian Junior Athletics Championships at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, today.
In the process, the Indian junior team bettered its predecessors’ haul of gold medals in the previous edition where they had secured two overall.
Earlier in the day, Ashish Jakhar struck the first gold for India in the men’s hammer throw event with a personal best of 69.00 metres. Jakhar bettered his previous best of 68.47m.
Iraq’s Hussein Thamer Al-Bayati finished second with 65.71 metres while Uzbekistan’s Jalokhan took the bronze with a throw of 63.77 metres.
Jisna Mathew brought home the second gold medal, in the women’s 400m event. A protege of the legendary PT Usha, Jisna clocked 53.85s to finish on top of the podium, while Guifen Huwang of China took the silver (54.92sec) and Haruko Ishizuka settled for the bronze (55.40sec). The other Indian girl in the race, Shaharbana Sidhique Thadiyan Parambil finished seventh, clocking 57.68sec.
In the women’s 1500m, India took centrestage, winning both the gold and bronze. Lily Das bagged the gold medal, clocking 4:29.50, while compatriot Hamilan Kaur Bains took the bronze with a timing of 4:33.02. Japanese Mina Ueda grabbed the silver medal with a performance of 4:30.76.
Ajay Saroj made it a double for India in the 1500m event, clinching the top spot with a timing of 3:57.55. Qatar’s Yousseuf Idriss Moussa bagged the silver, clocking 3:58.28, while Iran’s Assadizakalaki Ata took the bronze with a timing of 4:03.37.
The other Indians in the fray, Pankaj Malik finished fifth in the men’s 400m with a timing of 47.85sec, Ashish Bhalothia took the fourth place in the men’s shot put with a best throw of 17.38 metres. Japan’s Shinchi Yukinaga bagged the top honours with a throw of 18.41 metres, with Iranians Amin and Mahdi bagging the silver and bronze medals with 17.57 metres and 17.53 metres respectively.
Earlier, on the first day, India’s Murali Kumar Gavit bagged the bronze medal in the men’s 5000m, clocking 14:49.41sec while Ravina took the bronze in the women’s 10,000m walk with a timing of 51:09.48sec. In the previous edition, India bagged 12 medals, including two gold, six silver and four bronze. (PTI)
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