Asian Athletics Championships: Gulveer, Pooja, Agasara Extend India's Golden Run In Gumi

Last Updated:May 30, 2025, 17:20 IST

Gulveer clocked a competition-record time of 13:24.77 sec to pip Thailand's Kieran Tuntivate and Japan's Nagiya Mori to the top spot in the men's 5000m event.

Gulveer Singh. (X)

Indian athlete Gulveer Singh claimed his second gold of the ongoing Asian Athletics Championships 2025 with his record-breaking showing in the 5000m final on Friday, to add to his 10,000m victory.

Gulveer clocked an event-record time of 13:24.77 sec to pip Thailand’s Kieran Tuntivate and Japan’s Nagiya Mori to the top spot. Gulveer shattered Qatari Mohamed Al-Garni’s decade-old record of 13:34.47 sec in the process.

High jumper Pooja Singh clinched the top spot with a personal best of 1.89m in her penultimate attempt to edge out Uzbekistan’s Safina Sadullaeva, who registered a best effort of 1.86m, to claim the top spot.

Heptathlete Nandini Agasara tallied 5941 points to bag the yellow-metal in the event following her incredible comeback to emerge victorious in the 800m race on the back of a rather ordinary javelin throw performance. Agasara became just the third Indian to win a heptathlon Asian gold after Swapna Barman and Soma Biswas.

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Gulveer’s victory marked a significant achievement, as he had already secured gold in the 10,000m event on the opening day with a time of 28:38.63. This performance places Gulveer among an elite group of Indian athletes who have won gold in the men’s 5000m at the continental meet, joining Gopal Saini (1981), Bahadur Prasad (1993), and G Lakshmanan (2017).

The 26-year-old athlete from Atrauli, Uttar Pradesh, had previously won a bronze medal in the 2023 edition.

However, there was some disappointment in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, where defending champion Parul Chaudhary had to settle for silver with a time of 9:12.46. She was bested by Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto Tanui, who clocked 9:10.46, while the bronze went to Daisy Jepkemei of Kazakhstan with a time of 9:27.51.

Gulveer’s triumph brought India their sixth gold medal of the championships, increasing the country’s tally to six gold, seven silver, and three bronze medals.

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Earlier in the day, India’s 4x100m men’s relay team was disqualified during the preliminary round due to a faulty baton exchange, but Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh made it to the men’s javelin throw finals, along with Pakistan’s reigning Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem.

The relay team, consisting of Pranav Pramod Gaurav, Ragul Kumar Ganesh, Manikanta Hoblidhar, and Amlan Borgohain, was eliminated after being found guilty of baton exchange outside the takeover zone, violating World Athletics’ Technical Rule 24.7. The Malaysian team was disqualified for a similar infraction.

On a positive note, Sachin and Yashvir advanced to the 12-man javelin throw final. Sachin achieved a distance of 79.62m, placing fifth, while Yashvir qualified for the final with a throw of 76.67m. Nadeem, participating in his first competition since his gold-winning throw of 92.97m at the Paris Olympics last year, led the qualifying round with an effort of 86.34m.

In other events, women’s 100m hurdles gold medalist Jyothi Yarraji and Nithya Gandhe advanced to the 200m finals, clocking 23.74 and 23.77 seconds respectively in their heats. In the men’s 200m event, Animesh Kujur reached the semifinals with a time of 20.98 seconds in his preliminary race.

Additionally, India remained the favorite for gold in the heptathlon, as Nandini Agsara accumulated 4500 points after five events. She topped the long jump with a distance of 6.13m and leads China’s Liu Jingyi, who has 4210 points, with only the javelin throw and 800m events remaining.

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News sports Asian Athletics Championships: Gulveer, Pooja, Agasara Extend India's Golden Run In Gumi