India’s steady run in the 20th Asian Athletics Championship had taken a nosedive on Saturday, but the hosts revived their campaign in style by securing eight medals on the final day at the Balewadi Sports Complex here.
An electrifying performance by the 4x400 metres women’s relay team fetched India the gold while triple jumper Renjith Maheshwary, 200 m runner Asha Roy and high jumper Jithin Thomas picked up a silver each.
With a staggering 16 golds, six silvers and five bronzes, China recaptured the top spot. Consistent Bahrain (5-7-3) pushed Japan (4-6-10) to the third place while India (2-6-9) showed minor improvement from the last edition to finish sixth.
UAE’s Betlhem Belayneh Desalegn became the first woman to win a gold from her country, winning the gold in the 5,000m event in addition to the 1500m.
The Indian relay team, which had made news only for the wrong reasons so far, put in a marvellous show and picked up the gold for the ninth time
The quartet of Nirmala, Tintu Luka, Anu Mariam Jose and M.R. Poovamma dominated the show after Luka — who earned a bronze in the 800m earlier — ran a brilliant second leg which was widened by Jose and consolidated further by Poovamma. The team also qualified for the World Championships clocking 3.32.26s while the qualification standard is 3.33.00.
China (3:35.31) and Japan (3:35.72) occupied the next two places. It was Punjab’s Satinder Singh who opened the medals tally with a bronze in the 400m hurdles, the first event of the day. Satinder clocked 50.35, his season’s second best to finish third after Japan Yasuhiro Fueki (49.86) and China’s Chang Wen (50.07). Singh ran a consistent race but was stretched in the last 50 metres and it was a desperate lunge at the finish line that got him on to the podium.
Barely had the celebrations died down, when the duo of Asha Roy (23.71) and Dutee Chand (23.82) gave India a 2-3 finish in the 200m race. With three Indians in the fray, a medal was on the cards but Chand, a junior athlete on the national circuit, exceeded expectations when she beat defending champion Japan’s Chisato Fukushima by 1/1000th of a second in a thrilling finish. Roy was disappointed she could not equal her season’s best of 23.59 as it would have assured her of a gold.
There was another double finish in the triple jump event for the hosts when Renjith Maheshwary (16.76) and Arpinder Singh (16.58) secured a silver and a bronze respectively.
P.T. Usha’s protégé Luka (2:04.48) had to settle for a silver in the 800m event as she lost the lead in the final 100 metres and was pushed to the third place by Bahraini quarter-miler.
However, she made up for the loss with a gold in the relay. “She is in good form and did not go all out. She should have completed 600m in 1.30 but she needs to go 1.28. She recovered brilliantly in an hour to run another good race,” Usha said.