Asian Games 2023 Updates : Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh win gold; Jyothi Yarraji bags silver in athletics medal rush
Sunday as India’s medal tally at Hangzhou surged up to 53! The Indian men’s badminton team and Aditi Ashok scripted Asian Games history.
Hangzhou(Olympics) – India bagged 15 medals – three gold, seven silver and five bronze – on a dramatic eighth day at the Asian Games 2023 on Sunday, where athletics headlined the success.
Avinash Sable shattered the Asian Games record as he comfortably raced to India’s first men’s 3000m steeplechase gold medal at the continental meet. Tajinderpal Singh Toor, meanwhile, defended his men’s shot put crown at Hangzhou.
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Jyothi Yarraji clinched a dramatic women’s 100m hurdles silver after China’s Wu Yanni, who originally finished second, was disqualified for a false start. Harmilan Bains in women’s 1500m and Murali Sreeshankar in men’s long jump also won silver. Ajay Kumar Saroj and Jinson Johnson were second and third in the men’s 1500m.
Discus thrower Seema Punia and heptathlon athlete Nandini Agasara settled for bronze medals.
History created in badminton, golf and shooting
The Indian men’s badminton team, despite losing a thrilling final against China, scripted Asian Games history, winning the first-ever men’s team silver.
Aditi Ashok also created history. She became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Asian Games golf tournament after claiming silver in the women’s individual event.
Shooters won three medals, one of each colour, to wrap up their Hangzhou campaign with a record 22 medals, the highest in shooting in a single edition for India.
Boxer Nikhat Zareen, on the other hand, settled for a bronze medal in her debut Asian Games campaign.
The Indian women’s hockey team were held to a 1-1 draw against five-time Asian Games champions Republic of Korea. Archery also kicked off today.
Badminton: India win first-ever men’s team silver
The Indian men’s badminton team claimed their maiden silver medal at the Asian Games 2023 after losing the final 3-2 against China. It is only India’s second silver medal at the Asian Games, following PV Sindhu’s singles silver at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. India had previously won three men’s team bronze medals.
Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty had handed India a 2-0 lead in the men’s team badminton gold medal match. However, Li Shifeng beat former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth in straight games while Liu Yuchen / Ou Xuanyi made light work of Dhruv Kapila / Sai Pratheek to level the tie. Weng Hongyang won the decider 21-12, 21-4 against Mithun Manjunathan as China defended their title.
Basketball: China hand India first 5×5 defeat
The Indian women’s basketball team lost 111-53 against China in the women’s Group A match at Hangzhou 2023. All four quarters showcased a dominant attacking performance by the Chinese team.
Li Yueru from China scored 25 points, finishing as the top-scorer in the match. Four other players from the host nation also registered double figures. For India, Pushpa Senthil Kumar and Sanjana Ramesh notched 14 points, each, while Shireen Limaye scored 12.
After finishing second in the Group A standings, India will make the women’s basketball quarter-finals at the Asian Games 2023.
Athletics: Jyothi Yarraji bags dramatic 100m hurdles silver
Ace Indian hurdler Jyothi Yarraji clocked 12.91 seconds in the women’s 100m hurdles final at the Asian Games 2023. The 24-year-old athlete was initially awarded the bronze medal. However, China’s Wu Yanni was disqualified after the race, upgrading Yarraji’s medal to a silver.
Jyothi Yarraji and Wu Yanni were under review for false starts. The race, meanwhile, continued without any disqualification but the post-race investigation saw Wu Yanni lose her silver medal.
Lin Yuwei from China clinched the gold with a personal best time of 12.74 seconds. Japan’s Yumi Tanaka, initially fourth, clocked 13.04 seconds and bagged the bronze medal.
Athletics: Medals in long jump, heptathlon, discus throw
Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar bagged the silver medal with a best of 8.19m at the Asian Games 2023. The 24-year-old jumped just 0.3m short of the gold medal winner Wang Jianan from China. Sreeshankar also won the silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Jeswin Aldrin, meanwhile, finished eighth (7.76m) in the men’s long jump final at Hangzhou.
In the women’s heptathlon, Nandini Agasara, a U20 world championships finalist, won the 800m race with a personal best time of 2:15.33 and won the bronze medal after seven events. She notched personal best scores in the 200m race and javelin throw too. Swapna Barman fell just four points shy of her compatriot to finish fourth at the Asian Games 2023.
Seema Punia hurled a season-best 58.62m in the women’s discus throw final, winning the bronze medal at Hangzhou 2023. China’s Bin Feng (67.93) won gold with an Asian Games record. The 40-year-old Seema Punia completed a hat-trick Asian Games medals – gold in 2014, bronze in 2018 and bronze in 2023.
𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗛 𝗦𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 – Remember the name. He is destined for 𝙂𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙏𝙉𝙀𝙎𝙎 🫶 🇮🇳
The phenomenal athlete smashed the #AsianGames record with a timing of 8:19:50s to clinch #TeamIndia‘s first 𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗 in Track & Field 🏃🏽@avinash3000m #SonySportsNetwork #Cheer4India… pic.twitter.com/sUKQwuzMVx
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) October 1, 2023
“I’m very, very happy. I was focusing on beating my personal best, but in the last leg I thought I’d better go for the gold. And then I saw that I broke the record. I’m very happy about that.” – Avinash Sable