Athletics: Long jumper Ancy leads medal fight but gold eludes India on dramatic day

India added five more medals to its athletics haul on Sunday, but gold remained elusive at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Five medals, two silver and three bronze, took India’s athletics tally to 13 medals (six silver and seven bronze), but there was no yellow metal for a dramatic evening at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium.

A look at the schedule raised hopes that Sunday could finally bring India its first athletics gold of the Games and perhaps its first individual gold. Instead, there were near misses, last-gasp heartbreak and a few reminders of just how great margins can be at the Asian Games.

The most dramatic of all came in the women’s long jump.

ANCY’S DRAMATIC LONG JUMP SILVER

Ancy Sojanová had her sights set on gold for most of the competition and finally settled for silver after a thrilling final attempt.

The 25-year-old started at 6.49m and stayed in the lead for most of the competition. She then improved to 6.53 with her second jump and looked set to become only the second Indian after Anja Bobby George to win an Asian Games gold.

However, China’s Huang Yingying cleared 6.49m in her fifth attempt. Ancy maintained the lead in the countdown as she recorded a better second-best jump.

Then came the last attempt.

Huang performed a jump of 6.55m to win the gold. Ancy had one last chance to respond, but only managed 6.49m, leaving her with silver.

Even so, it was a significant success. Ancy became only the second Indian after Anja Bobby George to win multiple Asian Games medals in long jump. Ancy Sojanová won her second silver in a row at the Asian Games in the women’s long jump (Reuters photo)

There was also grief at the other end of the Indian field.

Shaili Singh was sitting in the bronze medal position heading into the final attempt, but China’s Tan Mengyi leapfrogged her with a leap of 6.46m. Shaili managed 6.42m with her final effort to finish fourth. Shaili Singh Gutted After Missing Bronze (Screengrab by SonyLIV)

India looked set to have two women on the podium in the long jump. In the end, only Ancy got there.

TEJASWIN’S SECOND ASIA DECATHLON MEDAL

Meanwhile, Tejaswin Shankar secured his second medal of the Asian Games with a bronze in the decathlon, but only after a dramatic reversal of fortune over the course of the two-day competition.

The Commonwealth Games bronze medalist was in gold position after the opening day, finishing first in both the long jump and high jump. He started the second day in the lead, but fell down the order as the competition progressed before fighting his way back into the top three.

His 10 actions:

100 m: 10.98 — 5
Long jump: 7.53m – 1st
Shot: 13.16m — 5th
High jump: 2.18 m — 1. 4
00 m: 48.59 – 3
110m hurdles: 14.33 – 3rd
Discus: 36.77m — 7th
Pole vault: 4.30 m — 8
Javelin: 53.37m – 5th
1500m: 4:33.09 — 1st

Tejaswin saved the best for last as he won the 1500m in 4:33.09 to finish with 7,934 points to secure bronze.

He won silver in the decathlon at the 2022 Asian Games and now has a medal haul.

SARVESH WINS HIGH JUMP SILVER

Sarvesh Kushare (left) with a silver medal in the high jump (AP Photo)

Sarvesh Kushare also came agonizingly close to gold as he bagged silver in the men’s high jump for his first Asian Games medal.

With four-time Olympic medalist Mutaz Barshim pulling out due to injury, the door seemed open for Sarvesh to go all the way. But Chinese Taipei’s Fu Chao-hsuan cleared 2.25m on his first attempt, while Sarvesh needed two attempts to clear the same height.

This proved to be decisive.

Sarvesh failed to clear 2.28m, which would have given him gold, and eventually lost on countback. His best of 2.25m was also below his personal best of 2.31m.

The 31-year-old is one of India’s most accomplished athletes and arrived in Aichi-Nagoya after winning silver at the Commonwealth Games. He also made his Diamond League debut earlier this year and will now have his eyes firmly set on the Los Angeles Olympics.

PARUL BAGS BRONZE WITH NATIONAL RECORD

Parul Chaudhary added another medal to her growing collection at the Asian Games when she won bronze in the women’s 3000m steeplechase with a new personal best and national record of 9:08.67.

It was her third Asian Games medal, adding to the 5000m silver and gold she won at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

Parul ran clear throughout and stayed in the pace-setting group before heading into the final lap. Given the quality of the race, she needed a personal best to reach the podium – and she delivered.

Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi, the Olympic champion from Paris, won gold in an Asian Games record 9:04.36.

Ankita also clocked a personal best of 9:19.24 but narrowly missed out on the podium to finish fourth.

HARITA MAKES DEBUT

Harita Bhadra ensured India’s medal run continued with a bronze in the 200m on her Asian Games debut.

The 23-year-old from Haryana clocked 23.20 seconds to beat Japan’s Ida Abigeirufuku by just 0.01 seconds in a thrilling finish.

Singapore’s Shanti Pereira won gold in a season’s best of 22.78 seconds, while China’s Chen Yujie took silver in 22.93 seconds. The other Indian in the final Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland finished sixth in 23.48 seconds.

The result was an unforgettable debut for Harita. In a heartwarming moment after the race, Unnathi hugged her teammate while Harita stood wrapped in an Indian flag.

Five medals, lots of drama – but still no gold.

India will get another chance on Monday when Murali Sreeshankar will compete in the men’s long jump, Avinash Sable will compete in the men’s 3000m hurdles, Rohit Yadav will compete in the men’s javelin and Gulveer Singh will feature in the men’s 1500m.

Sreeshankar qualified for the final with a best effort of 7.84m, behind Uzbekistan’s Anvar Anvarov, who was the only one to break the automatic qualification mark of 8m.

The search for that elusive athletic gold continues.

ATHLETIC MEDALISTS ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

Ancy Sojan – Women’s Long Jump, Final – Silver
Sarvesh Kushare – Men’s High Jump Final – Silver
Tejaswin Shankar – Men’s Decathlon – Bronze
Parul Chaudhary – Women’s 3000m Steeplechase Final – Bronze
Harita Bhadra – Women’s 200m Final – Bronze

OTHER FINALS

Shaili Singh — Women’s long jump
Ankita — Women’s 3000m Steeplechase

Animesh Kujur — Men’s 200m

Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland — Women’s 200m
Nandhini Kongan — Women’s 100m Hurdles

Aadarsh Jothi Shankar – Men’s High Jump

QUALIFICATIONS

Mohammed Afsal – Men’s 800m Heat – Qualification
Santosh Kumar Tamilaarasan — Men’s 400m Hurdles Heat — Qualification
Vithya Ramraj / Anu Raghavan – Women’s 400m Hurdles – Qualification
Team India – Women’s 4x100m Relay – Qualification
M. Sreeshankar / D. Solomon – Men’s Long Jump – Qualification

– The end