Gumi (South Korea), May 31: Odisha sprinter Animesh Kujur bagged a bronze, while Javelin thrower Sachin Yadav achieved a personal best in his maiden international event as the Indian athletes fought hard and gave a good account of themselves on the concluding day of the 26th Asian Athletics Championships here on Saturday in the South Korean City of Gumi.

Their efforts took the overall medal tally to 24 to finish, which ensured the country finished in second place in the final standings behind China.

Of the 24 medals, eight gold, 10 silver, and six bronze medals. China topped the table chart with 26 medals, including 15 gold, eight silver, and three bronze medals. Japan, with 24 medals, four of them gold, was third in the medal tally.

All eyes on the final day of the continental competition were on the men's javelin throw. Sachin Yadav, on his international debut, recorded a personal and season best of 85.16m to win the silver medal behind Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem (86.40m).

On his missing the automatic qualification mark of 85.50m for the September 13 to 21 Tokyo World Athletics Championships, Yadav said, the Asian championships are a good learning experience, and he will get back to chalk out plans for his next competition.

Yadav said he was focused on giving his best in his first international meet. “I always focus on my performance during competition and don’t look at the results of other competitors,” the Asian silver medallist said. Earlier in February at the Uttarakhand National Games, Yadav won gold with a distance of 84.39m.

The final day also saw Animesh Kujur sprinting to glory in the men's 200m. A false start by a Chinese sprinter didn’t upset the Indian sprinter's strategy to win a medal in the 200m.

On his way to winning bronze, Kujur clocked 20.32 seconds to better his own national record of 20.40 seconds set in a domestic meet in Kochi in April. “The start was not so good. But good curve running enabled me to earn a medal in the Asian meet,” Kujur said in the post-race interaction.

The Indian quartet of Odisha star Srabani Nanda, SS Sneha, Abhinaya Rajarajan, and Nithya Gandhe clocked 43.86 seconds to win silver in the women’s 4x100m relay. China took home gold while Thailand won bronze.

Distance runner Parul Chaudhary added a second silver to her kitty on Saturday. The winner of silver in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase added a 5000m silver medal to her collection on Saturday.

Middle-distance runner Pooja also added an 800m bronze to her kitty. She had won a 1500m silver in the competition. Vithya Ramraj also won bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles. She clocked 56.46 seconds. However, Jyothi Yarraji and Nithya Gandhe weren’t successful in winning medals in the women’s 200m.

Results (Day 5):

Men: 200m: Towa Uzawa (Japan) 20.12 seconds, Abdulaziz Abdu A (Saudi Arabia) 20.31 seconds, Animesh Kujur (India) 20.32 seconds.

800m: Ebrahim Alzofairi (Kuwait) 1:44.59, Ali Amirian (Iran) 1:44.97, Abubaker H Abdalla (Qatar) 1:45.20, Krishan Kumar (India 7th) 1:48.72, Anu Kumar (India 8th)1:58.04.

Javelin throw: Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan) 86.40m, Sachin Yadav (India) 85.16m, Yuta Sakiyama (Japan) 83.75m, Yashvir Singh (India 5th 82.57m.

Women:

200m: Chen Yujie (China) 22.97 seconds, Veronica Shanti Pereira (Singapore) 22.98 seconds, Li Yuting (China) 23.23 seconds, Jyothi Yarraji (India 5th) 23.47 seconds, Nithya Gandhe (India 7th) 23.90 seconds.

800m: Wu Hongjiao (China)2:00.08, Rin Kubo (Japan) 2:00.42, Pooja (India) 2:01.89, Twinkle Chaudhary (India 4th) 2:03.33.

5,000m: Norah Jeruto Tanui (Kazakhstan) 14:58.71, Parul Chaudhary (India) 15:15.33, Yuma Yamamoto (Japan) 15:16.86, Sanjivani Jadhav (India 5th) 15:36.40.

400m hurdles: Mo Jiadie (China) 55.31 seconds, Oluwakemi Mujidat Adekoya 55.32 seconds, Vithya Ramraj (India) 56.46 seconds, Anu R (India 7th) 57.46 seconds.

4x100m relay: China 43.28 seconds, India (Srabani Nanda, SS Sneha, Abhinaya Rajarajan, Nithya Gandhe) 43.86 seconds, Thailand 44.26 seconds.

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