Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles), Avinash Sable (steeplechase), women’s 4x400m relay team finish on top in South Korea
Jyothi Yarraji and Avinash Sable
It rained gold for India at the Asian Athletics Championships on Thursday as the country’s fastest woman hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, seasoned steeplechase-runner Avinash Sable and the 4x400m women’s relay team delivered stupendous performances to finish on top.
Awesome foursome
After Yarraji and Sable set the tone, the quartet of Jisna Mathew, Rupal Chaudhary, Kunja Rajitha and Subha Venkatesan clinched the gold medal in the women’s 4x400m relay event, clocking a season-best time (3:34.18sec) to extend India’s dominance on the third competition day of the continental championship.
India’s 4x400m women’s team. Pics/AFI Instagram, Getty Images
This was the 10th gold overall for India in the event and first since 2013. Overall, India snared three gold, two silver and a bronze on Thursday, taking their overall tally to 14 after proceedings were disrupted by a massive thunderstorm. In the women’s event, Vietnam took silver (3:34.77sec), while Sri Lanka settled for the bronze (3:36.67sec). The men’s 4x400m relay team of Jay Kumar, Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil Saji and Vishal TK also looked to be on course for a gold medal before settling for silver (3:03.67sec). Qatar (3:03.52sec) won gold medal, while China (3:03.73sec) took bronze.
Earlier, on his way to victory with a season-best performance, Sable became the first Indian man in 36 years to win a gold medal in steeplechase at the Asian Championships. Sable clocked 8:20.92 sec to claim the top honour, which is also his second Asian medal after a silver in the 2019 edition. It was, however, nowhere close to his national record of 8:09.91sec achieved in 2024. The last time India won a gold in this event was in 1989, by Dina Ram. Harbel Singh was the first Indian to fetch a men’s steeplechase gold in 1975.
Yarraji sets new record
Soon after, Yarraji produced a late burst to clinch her second straight gold medal in this competition with a new championship record of 12.96 seconds. The previous record was 12.99 seconds, by China’s Su Yiping in the 2000 edition of the tournament. In the 2023 edition, Yarraji had won the gold with an effort of 13.09, but her personal best, which is also the national record, is a way better at 12.78 seconds.
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