Asian Games 2026: Tejaswin Shankar wins decathlon bronze after 1500m triumph

India’s Tejaswin Shankar crosses the finish line to top the 1500m and win bronze in the men’s decathlon. (Photo by Reuters) NEW DELHI: Tejaswin Shankar capped off a tough two days of competition by winning the final event, the 1500m, to clinch the decathlon bronze at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Sunday.The Indian finished with 7934 points after clocking 4:33.09 in the 1500m to win the race ahead of Japan’s Yuma Maruyama. However, Maruyama claimed overall gold with 8123 points, while China’s Xinghua Chen took silver after finishing third in the final race.Tejaswin’s bronze was India’s 35th medal of the Games, taking the country’s tally to four gold, 15 silver and 16 bronze. It was also India’s 11th medal in athletics as the country continued to wait for its first gold in athletics.Asian Games full coverage | Medal Tally | Schedule

Three events win the Tejaswin Medal

The Indian decathlete won three of the 10 events – long jump, high jump and 1500m – over two days to complete his campaign on the podium.The 1500m, the final test in the grueling all-around competition, offered Tejaswin a chance to finish well. He grabbed it with a winning ride, but Maruyama’s points lead from earlier events was enough to secure the title for the Japanese athlete.The bronze added to India’s medal tally in athletics, which was boosted by Harita Bhadra’s third place in the women’s 200m and Ancy Sojan’s silver in the long jump on Sunday.

Ancy misses the gold by two inches

Ancy came close to giving India its first athletics gold of the Games, but China’s Yingying Huang produced a decisive leap in the final lap to win the women’s long jump title. Ancy took the lead with 6.53m on her fifth attempt, only for Huang to jump 6.55m in the final round. Ancy’s last effort was 6.49m.Shaili Singh also missed out on the podium after China’s Mengyi Tan improved to 6.46m with her last attempt to push the Indian from third to fourth. Shaili’s best jump was 6.42m.Earlier, Harita claimed bronze in the women’s 200m in 23.20 seconds, beating Japan’s Abigeirufuka Ido by 0.01 seconds. Indonesia’s Shanti Pereira won gold in 22.78s, China’s Yujie Chen won silver in 22.93s. Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland finished sixth in 23.46s.