Asian U-20 Championship: Sunil Kumar beats odds to bag gold

Yecheon (South Korea), June 6

Competing with a pole vault borrowed from the organisers, Sunil Kumar won the decathlon gold medal with his personal best performance in the Asian U-20 Athletics Championship here today.

The 18-year-old suffered a setback much before taking the field when a South Korean airline and Air India barred him from carrying his pole due to “technical issues” relating to the five-metre length of the equipment. But that did not stop Sunil from bagging gold as he won the 10-event competition with a personal best tally of 7,003 points on the penultimate day of the competition.

The Athletics Federation of India had requested the organisers to provide Sunil with a pole as he finished fourth in the event.

Sunil won the 100m hurdles, discus throw and javelin throw to make up for the below-par show in the other events and secure gold in the gruelling discipline competed over two days.

“It looked a bit difficult initially. But I gave it a try and pushed hard on day-two of the competition. I am extremely happy with the result,” Sunil said after winning gold.

In the women’s high jump, Pooja won silver after clearing 1.82 metres. Bushra Khan added another silver in the women’s 3,000m race, clocking 9 minutes, 41.47 seconds. The Indian women’s 4x100m relay team clocked 45.36s to win bronze.

India remained at the third spot in the tally with 4 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze.