Gulveer, Pooja, Nandini keep Indian Flag flying high in Gumi

Gulveer Singh, India’s premier distance runner, teenaged High Jumper Pooja and a doughty Heptathlete Nandini Agasara kept the Indian Flag flying high with gold medal efforts on the penultimate day’s competition in the Asian Athletics Championships in the Korean city of Gumi on Friday. Each of them showed nerves of steel and a large heart to spur India on.

Gulveer Singh scored the distance double, adding the 5000m gold in a championship record time to the 10000m title he won on the opening day. In a fast, the top six runners, including the second Indian Abhishek Pal came home inside the existing meet mark but Gulveer’s pace on the final lap stood him in good stead and he won in 13:24.77.

An 18-year-old from Fatehabad in Haryana, Pooja became the second Indian to win the women’s High Jump gold in the continental championships. In an event which has been dominated by athletes from Central Asian republics, her calm and measured approach piled the pressure on her rivals.

Pooja cleared 1.89m on her first attempt after needing two tries each at 1.83m and 1.86m. Had she not soared over the bar at 1.89m, she would have to settle for the bronze medal behind Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games champion Safina Sadullayeva (Uzbekistan) and Kazakhstan’s Yelizaveta Matveyeva. Bobby Aloysius had won gold in 2000. 

Pooja sought to equal Sahana Kumari’s National Record of 1.92m, set in 2012, but faltered on all three tries. But she can draw consolation from having been only the second Indian after Sahana Kumari to jump this high in an overseas competition. Just 18 years of age, it can be expected that with the right guidance and motivation, she can scale greater heights.

Nandini Agasara emulated Soma Biswas (2005) and Swapna Barman (2017) as the Asian Heptathlon Champion by accumulating a career best total of 5941 points. Trailing China’s Liu Jingyi by 54 points after six events, she finished the 800m in 2:15.54, more than nine seconds ahead to win gold by a 72-point margin.

Had she not been bogged down by a niggle in her hand, Nandini Agasara may have produced a better Javelin Throw than 34.18m that was worth 556 points. This was a key reason for her not being able to reach the 6000-point milestone in this competition. 

Parul Chaudhary did not retain women’s 3000m Steeplechase gold but in clocking 9:12.46 for silver, she claimed a share of the spotlight by creating a new National Record for the second time in 15 days. Having marked it a 9:13.39 in the Doha Diamond League on May 16, she used leader Norah Jenuto Tanui’s pace sensibly to rewrite the National Record.

Having raced her as recently as on May 16, Parul Chaudhary soon realised that she could burn out if she sought to stay on the Kazakhstan Steeplechaser’s heels. She focused on running her own race, possibly using the runner ahead of her as a guide to improve her own personal best time in the event.

Animesh Kujur eased off on the final strides of his men’s 200m semifinal and yet finished in 20.81 seconds, the second fastest time among those who qualified for the medal race on Saturday. Anu Kumar and Krishan Kumar (men’s 800m), Pooja and Twinkle Chaudhary (women’s 800m), Vithiya Ramaraj and Anu Raghavan (women’s 400m Hurdles) as well as Sachin Yadav and Yash Vir Singh (men’s Javelin Throw) all qualified for the respective finals.

The only real setback for India on Friday was the disqualification of the men’s 4x100m relay squad after a faulty baton exchange between Pranav Gurav and Ragul Kumar. The efforts of Manikanta Hobildar and Amlan Borgohain to take India to the second place in the heats were of no avail as the team was disqualified.