New Delhi: India ended its Asian Indoor Athletics Championships campaign with five medals and one gold, finishing sixth in the medal tally. Tejaswin Shankar put in a stellar performance for India to win the men’s heptathlon gold, the country’s only gold at the tournament.Shankar won the heptathlon title with 5993 points, breaking the national indoor record of 5650 points he set in 2021. He led from day one and maintained his dominance in all seven events. On the final day, he ran 8.02 seconds in the 60m hurdles and scored 977 points. He then ran 4.20 meters in the pole vault, scoring 673 points, and then completed the 1,000 meters in 2 minutes, 43.91 seconds for a total score of 5,993 points. Shankar is already India’s national record holder in the outdoor decathlon and further confirmed his status as one of India’s top multi-sport athletes by winning a silver medal at the 2023 Asian Games.India’s other medalists also impressed. Pooja won the silver medal in the women’s high jump with a jump of 1.87 meters. Tajinderpal singh toor In the men’s shot put competition, he won the silver medal with a season-best throw of 20.05 meters, a far cry from the gold medal. Ancy Sojan won the bronze medal in the women’s long jump with a best time of 6.21 meters. Earlier in the competition, Aadrash Ram Jothi Shankar won the bronze medal in the high jump.The Chinese team dominated this championship with 34 medals (including 10 gold medals) and firmly topped the list. Despite missing out on more gold medals, Indian athletes performed well and achieved several personal and season bests, underscoring India’s growing athletics prowess on the Asian stage.
