It’s a handy haul

India athletes win 4 medals comprising silver, bronze in women’s 3,000m steeplechase, 2nd place in women’s long jump and 4x400m mixed relay on Day 2 of competition

It was another good show by Team India at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre on Day 2 of the athletics competition though they could not get their hands on a gold medal. Steeplechasers Parul Chaudhary and Priti Lamba picked up silver and bronze medals respectively after which long jumper Ancy Sojan and the 4x400m mixed relay team also picked up silver medals.

India long jumper Shaili Singh in tears after finishing outside the medals yesterday. She was among the favourites to finish on the podium here. Pic/Ashwin Ferro

In the day’s first athletics medal for India, Chaudhary (9:27.63s) cruised to the silver behind Bahrain’s Mutile Yavi (9:18.28s), who set a new Games record, while Priti finished a distant third with a personal best of 9:43.32s.

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In the women’s long jump, teenager Shaili Singh, 19, was expected to finish on the podium, but she made a tearful exit after finishing fifth (6.48m) while Sojan, 22, registered a personal best of 6.63m to clinch second place on her Asiad debut.

India’s Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi, Subha Venkatesan, Rajesh Ramesh and Vithya Ramraj with their silver medals in the 4x400m mixed relay yesterday

China’s Shiqi Xiong (6.73m) took gold, while the bronze went to Hong Kong’s Yan Yue (6.50m). “I will celebrate this by dancing in my room tonight. I love dancing,” said Sojan. “I don’t know what happened today. Nothing went in my favour, but I will work extra hard and promise to win a medal next time,” said Shaili.

In the 4x400m mixed relay, Muhammed Ajmal, Vithya Ramraj, Rajesh Ramesh and Subha Venkatesan set a new national record of 3:14.34s as they finished in third place only to be later upgraded to the silver medal position after second-placed Sri Lanka were disqualified for a lane violation. Bahrain clinched the gold, clocking 3:14.02s, while bronze went to Kazakhstan (3:24.85s). “We could have done better and possibly even won gold, but this is a good timing,” said Ajmal. 

Parul Chaudhary (right) and Priti Lamba celebrate after winning the silver and bronze medals respectively yesterday. Pics/PTI

His teammate Venkatesan added: “Honestly, a part of me is a little unhappy because we focussed on gold, but this is a national record so that’s great. We will definitely qualify for the Olympics,” she said.

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