Gumi (South Korea), May 27 (IANS) Hangzhou Asian Games medallist, Gulveer Singh, sprinted home to win men’s 10,000m gold, while race walker Servin Sebastian bagged bronze on the opening day of the 26th Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, on Tuesday.
The evening session ended on a disappointing note as Annu Rani narrowly missed adding a bronze medal to the tally as she finished fourth in the women’s javelin throw.
The day belonged to Gulveer as he bagged the first gold of the campaign for the Indian contingent, as in the morning session, race walker Servin Sebastian clinched bronze in the 20km race walk.
In a battle of wits, Gulveer 26, surged ahead of his rivals in the last lap of the 10,000m race to post a time of 28:38.63, which was slower than his personal best of 27:00.22 clocked in March this year.
The warm local weather conditions at the time of the 25-lap race robbed the Indian runner of a fast time; nonetheless, he was elated to have pocketed gold at the continental meet.
“Irrespective of the time, the main goal was to finish first. I’m happy to have successfully implemented my race strategy,” Singh said in the post-race interaction. “The gold medal will certainly enhance my world ranking and brighten chances to win a ticket to the Tokyo World Athletics Championships in September,” Gulveer was quoted as saying by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
The automatic qualification in the men’s 10,000m is 27:00.00. Singh had narrowly missed the qualification mark in March at The Ten in California, USA. But recorded a personal best of 27:00.22 in California.
Athletes can also qualify for the World Championships through the global ranking system. Tuesday’s gold medal in Gumi will improve Singh’s world ranking.
Due to warm weather conditions, the local organising committee had a water station during the 10,000m track race. Singh said he conserved every ounce of his energy for the last lap and produced the kick at the right time.
“I surged ahead in the last lap and shifted to top gear at the 200m mark of the race. Had someone pushed me, I could have gone faster as I wasn’t tired after crossing the finish line,” the national record holder added.
Sawan Barwal, the second Indian in the race, finished fourth with a time of 28:50.53.
Boosted by the gold, Gulveer would be hoping to complete a grand double in the men’s 5,000m, which is scheduled for the last day of the championship (May 31). All the runners, including Gulveer, will get enough time to recover for another exciting race.
Earlier in the morning session, Servin Sebastian set the ball rolling for India by winning the first medal, a bronze in the men’s 20km race walk. The 26-year-old Army athlete clocked 1:21:13.90, a personal best on his debut at the continental level.
“It was a good race. I’m happy to be among the medal winners in my first race at the continental,” Sebastian told the AFI after his event.
Sebastian has been consistent in his performance since the beginning of the 2025 season. In February, he won the 20km race walk gold at the Uttarakhand National Games with a time of 1:21:23. His second gold (1:21:47) at the domestic event was at the Indian Open Race Walking Competition in April in Chandigarh.
The medal winners in the race walk bettered the championship record of 1:24:42 set by Japanese Yutaro Murayama at the previous edition of the continental meet in 2023 in Bangkok.
Sebastian stayed with the leading pack of seven athletes for a major part of the gruelling 20km event. Despite the tempo of the race getting faster, he continued to maintain a good pace as the leading group was reduced to three, including one Chinese and one Japanese.
However, in the last 2km of the race Wang Zhaozhao and Kento Yoshikawa opened up a small gap, which eventually widened as the Indian walker wasn’t able to catch up. “I made efforts to narrow the gap but ended up in third place,” Sebastian added.
Amit, the second Indian race walker, finished fourth.
India’s ace female javelin thrower Annu Rani finished fourth with a distance of 58.30m. She had a series of 56.92m, no mark, 58.30m, 58.11m, 57.80m, and no mark in the final throw.
India’s Yoonus Shah advanced to the medal round in the men’s 1500m. Shah finished second in his heat with a time of 3:46.96. Servesh Anil Kushare also advanced to the final in the men’s high jump.
Vishal TK advanced to the men’s 400m final. He clocked 46.05 seconds in the 400m semis. Jay Kumar finished fourth in the 400m semis (46.87 seconds) and missed out on the medal round.
Both Rupal Chaudhary and Vithya Ramraj qualified for the women’s 400m final. Rupal’s time in heat was 53.00 seconds while Vithya clocked 53.32 seconds to advance to the final. Tejaswin Shankar is competing in the decathlon.
–IANS
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