India’s athletics campaign produced three medals on Saturday, September 26, but a day that promised considerably more ended with a sense of missed opportunities, injuries and near misses at the Asian Games.
Sawan Barwal’s silver in the men’s marathon, Tajinderpal Singh Toor’s silver in the men’s shot put and Prachi Chaudhary’s bronze in the women’s 400m gave India reasons to celebrate.
But with several medal contenders either unable to compete or falling just short of the podium, Athletics Federation of India vice-president Anju Bobby George described it as a mixed day.
ASIAN GAMES LIVE: SEPT 26 UPDATES | MEDAL TABLE
MEDALS BUT MISSED CHANCES
“Frankly speaking, we are not entirely happy because we were expecting a few more gold medals,” George said on the Sony Sports Network.
India had entered the day with several strong medal prospects, but the results did not entirely match expectations.
The biggest setbacks came in the women’s 100m hurdles and men’s triple jump, where last edition’s podium finishers Jyothi Yarraji and Praveen Chithravel were both forced out of their events.
Yarraji, the silver medallist from the previous Asian Games, withdrew before her heat after feeling pain during her warm-up, according to an AFI official.
Chithravel, meanwhile, was unable to complete his opening attempt in the triple jump after clutching his leg in pain. Karthik Unnikrishnan finished sixth in the event.
“Praveen was actually leading his group before he suffered a hamstring injury on his runway attempt,” George said.
“With Jyothi, she was already dealing with pain; we believed she could manage it, but she felt sharp discomfort during her warm-up and had to withdraw.”
“Losing those two sure-shot medals made it a tough day for us,” she added.
NEAR MISSES ON TRACK
India also came close to adding more medals in the track events.
National record holder Vishal TK finished fifth in the men’s 400m final in 45.48 seconds. His season-best performance would have put him in contention for a higher finish, but he could not reproduce that mark in the final.
In the women’s 1500m, Parul Chaudhary missed the podium by finishing fourth in 4:09.46, while Pooja came sixth in 4:16.78.
Those results added to India’s list of near misses on a day when the margin between a medal and fourth place proved costly.
NO SHOTPUT GOLD THREE-PEAT
Toor’s silver also came with a sense of what might have been.
The two-time defending champion had been targeting a third successive Asian Games gold, but ended with a silver after Iran’s Mohammadreza Tayebi produced a Games record of 20.81m. Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Tolu took bronze with 20.48m.
“We always expect gold from him because he is a top-class athlete and an Asian record holder,” George said.
Yet George felt Toor’s performance deserved plenty of credit, particularly given the wet conditions that affected the throwing circle.
“Performing near his best under rainy conditions to secure silver in his third Asian Games appearance is remarkable,” she said.
RAIN ADDS TO CHALLENGE
The weather was another factor throughout the day’s athletics programme, particularly for the field events.
“It’s an outdoor event, so weather plays a big part,” George said.
Despite the difficult conditions, she pointed out that the wider standard of Asian athletics remained high, with five Asian Games records broken across various events.
For India, however, Saturday remained a day defined as much by the medals that slipped away as those that were won.
Three podium finishes provided a respectable return, but injuries to Yarraji and Chithravel, Toor’s lost shot-put crown and near misses for Vishal and Parul left the Indian camp wondering what might have been.
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