CHENNAI: There was disappointment in women’s javelin. Annu Rani, who won medals at the last two editions of the Asian Athletics Championships, finished fourth with a throw of 59.10m. However, long-distance runner Abhishek Pal brought some cheers to the India camp after he managed to secure bronze in 10,000m in 29:33.36s.
According to an AFI statement, the competitors battled hot and humid conditions during the men’s 25-lap race. Japan’s Ren Tazawa took the pole position and eventually won gold with a time of 29:18.44s. Kazakhstan’s Shadrack Kimutai Koech took home silver with a time of 29:31.63 seconds. Interestingly, the 25-year-old Indian runner finished seventh at Doha meet four years ago.
India’s Pal and his compatriot Gulveer Singh were behind the leading runners for almost the entire race. Pal made a surge in the last lap and overtook tiring Japanese runner Yuto Imae, who was fourth, to cross the finish third. Annu finished behind Japan’s Marina Saito (61.67m), Liu Shiying (61.51m) and Nadeesha Dilhani (60.93m).
In women’s 1500m, India’s Lili Das finished seventh with a time of 4:27.61. In the decathlon, Tejaswin Shankar was leading the field on day one with 4124 points.