Kartik Kumar, Gulveer Singh go the distance in 10,000m

PTI

Hangzhou, September 30

Indian long-distance runners Kartik Kumar and Gulveer Singh finished second and third, respectively, in the men’s 10000m race with personal best times at the Asian Games here today.

Kartik won silver with a timing of 28 minutes, 15.38 seconds, while Gulveer clocked 28:17.21 to claim bronze. Both the Indians sneaked into medal contention in the last 100 metres after three of their competitors fell in succession after bumping into each other. Birhanu Yemataw Balew of Bahrain won the gold medal with in 28:13.62.

Kartik’s earlier personal best time was 28:55.00, which he had clocked while winning a bronze in the National Games last year. “I knew that I would win a medal but I had come with the target of breaking the national record by clocking 27:50. But I could not. I was slow in between, the race was also slow from the beginning,” said Kartik.

The national record stands at 28:02.89 in the name of Surendra Singh since 2008.

In the women’s 400m final, Aishwarya Mishra finished fourth in 53.50, while Muhammed Ajmal clocked 45.97 for a fifth spot in the men’s competition. In the 1,500m, Jinson Johnson and Ajay Kumar Saroj qualified for the final. Jeswin Aldrin and Murali Sreeshankar qualified for the final of the men’s long jump event. In women’s 100m hurdles, Jyothi Yarraji qualified for the final.

#Asian Games