bhishek Pal opened India's medal account in the Asian Athletics Championships with a bronze o🌳n the opening day of competitions on Wednesday.
Pa🐎l clocked 29 minute 33.26 seconds to finish behind Ren🌠 Tazawa (29.18.44) of Japan and Koech Kimutai Shadrack (29:31.63) of Kazakhstan.
The-25-year-old Pal from Indian army pushed hard in the last lap of the race to cross the finish line in 29:33.36 seconds to win♍ first 💫medal for the Indian contingent on Wednesday.
While experienced javelin thrower Annu Rani missed the podium, ꦦshe finished fourth with a throw of 59.10m. Middle distance runner Lili Das too missed the podium in the women’s 1500m. She clocked 4:27 to finish seventh.
The competitor battled hot and hu𒆙mid conditions during the men's 25-lap race. The athletes string out after two laꦗps and Japan's Ren Tazawa took the pole position. He wasn’t challenged by his rivals and eventually won gold with a time of 29:18.44 seconds.
Kazakhstan’s Shadrack Kimutai Koඣech took home silver with a time of 29:31.6๊3 seconds.
Pal and compatriot Gulveer Singh stayed behind the leading runners for almost the entire race. Pal, however, pushed hard in the last lap and overtook tiring😼 Japanese runner Yuto Imae, who was fourth, to cross the finish line in third place.
"I saw Imae slowing down in the last two laps. I gradually tracked him down and pushed hard inꦰ the last 400m to win bronze," Pal said in the post race interaction.
"The weather was okay at the ౠstart of the race, but was 🐼unbearable in the second half."
The twoꦓ Japanese in t🌱he race had sub 28 minutes to their credit. But local weather conditions took its toll on the competitors.
It w﷽as a sweet victory for Pal as he had finished seventh in the 10,000m at the 2019 Doha edition of the Asian Athletics Championships i🌄n Qatar.
"The bronze in the 10,000m ﷽has added to my confidence. I should do better in the 5,000m race,&quo🌠t; Pal added.
Expectations were high in the women’s javelin throw but experienced Annu Rani came up with a series of 55.31m, 💫58.70m, 59.10m, x, 58.46m and 58.29m to miss out of a medal.
Annu had won silver (60.22m) at the 2019 As🍨ian championship in Doha. Japan's Marina Saito won gold with a throw of 61.67m, while Liu Shiying of China clinched silver with a throw of 61.51m.
Sri Lanka’s Nadeesha Dilhani wo൩n ไbronze with a throw of 60.93m.
In the women’s 1500m, India’s Lili Das finished seventh with a time of 4:27.61. It was 1-2 for Japan in the 1500m. Nozomi Tanaka won gold with a time of 4:06.75 seconds, while compatriot Yume Goto🙈 clockeꦆd 4:13.25 to win silver. Gayanthika Thushari of Sri Lanka took home bronze with a time of 4:18.84.
Indian quarter-mi💖lers gave a good account of themselves in the pre🐈liminary rounds of the 400m.
Aishwarya Misha clocked 53.58 seconds to win her heat and advance to the finౠal scheduled for Thursday.
Rajesh Ramesh (45.91 secs) and꧅ Muhammad Ajmal (45.75 secs) were impressive in🐓 the men’s 400m semis on Wednesday. Both have qualified for the final.
In de𓃲cathlon, Tejaswin Shankar was leading the field on day-one with 4꧙124 points.
