Asian athletics c’ships: Triple treat for Indians on Day 2

Bangkok, July 13

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India won three gold medals on the second day of Asian Athletics Championships with hurdler Jyothi Yarraji clinching her maiden top finish in a major international event and Ajay Kumar Saroj running a brilliant race to win the men’s 1,500m title here today. Commonwealth Games silver medallist Abdulla Aboobacker grabbed India’s third gold of the day by winning the men’s triple jump event.

Aishwarya Mishra clocked 53.07 seconds to win bronze in the women’s 400m final, while Tejaswin Shankar won bronze in decathlon.

The 23-year-old Yarraji clocked 13.09 seconds to win the 100m hurdles final ahead of the two Japanese runners — Terada Asuka (13.13s) and Aoki Masumi (13.26s) — on a rain-drenched track. Yarraji’s national record stands at 12.82s but the wet track here was not ideal for a fast time.

In the men’s 1,500m, the 26-year-old Saroj turned on the afterburners at the final bend to go past two opponents. He clocked 3 minutes, 41.51 seconds, over two seconds outside his personal best of 3:39.19 recorded last month.

For Aboobacker, it was his season’s best effort of 16.92m that saw him win gold ahead of Hikaru Ikehata (16.73m) of Japan and Kim Jang-woo (16.59m) of South Korea.