Parul, Priyanka & Vikash secures top spot on podium

Ace Indian long distance runner Parul Chaudhary won her second medal of the Asian Athletics Championships with a silver in 5000m on the final day of competitions here. Priyanka Goswami and Vikash Singh also won silver and bronze medals in the women’s and men’s 20km race-walk events respectively on the final day of the Asian Athletics Championships. National record-holder Priyanka clocked 1 hour 34 minutes and 24 seconds to finish second in the women’s 20km race walk event behind Yang Liujing (1:32:37) of China. Yukiko Umeno of Japan took the bronze with a time of 1:36:17. The 27-year-old Priyanka’s time, though, was well outside her personal best of 1:28:45, which she had clocked in 2021. Another Indian in the fray, Bhawna Jat finished fifth with a time of 1:38:26. In the men’s 20km event, Vikash clocked 1:29:32 to take the bronze medal. Yutaro Murayama (1:24:40) of Japan won the gold while Wang Kaihua (1:25:29) of China took the silver medal. National record holder Akshdeep Singh did not finish the race as he was disqualified by the judges. The 27-year-old Vikash has a personal as well as season’s best time of 1:20:05. It was his first international medal. Both Priyanka, who had won a silver in 10,000m race walk in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and Vikash have already qualified for the World Championships (August 17-29) in Budapest, Hungary, and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Chaudhary, who had won gold in 3000m steeplechase on Friday, clocked 15 minute 52.35 seconds to finish second behind Yuma Yamamoto (15:51.16) of Japan in the 5000m final. The 28-year-old Chaudhary holds the 5000m national record of 15:10.35. Ankita won the bronze in 16:03.33 as India secured two medals from the event. Earlier, Kishan Kumar and KM Chanda ran their personal best times to win a silver medal each in the men’s and women’s 800m race respectively. Kumar clocked 1 minute 45.88 seconds to finish second behind Abubaker H Abdalla (1:45.53) of Qatar, while Chanda crossed the finish line of the two-lap race in 2:01.58 behind MK Dissanayaka (2:00.66) of Sri Lanka. Kumar’s earlier personal best was 1:46.17, while Chanda equalled her earlier lifetime best of 2:01.58.