Asian Athletics C’ships: India Stay on Top With 5 Medals on Day 3

India clinched five medals on day three of the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar on Saturday.

India clinched one gold through Sudha Singh in women's 3000m steeplechase event and four other medals to maintain their numero uno position on the third and penultimate day at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar on Saturday.

The 31-year-old Sudha won her race in 9 minute 59.47 seconds to grab the lone gold for India to steal the limelight in front of a packed crowd at the Kalinga Stadium.

It was Sudha's first gold in her fourth attempt in the Asian Championship.

Anu Raghavan added a silver in the women's 400m hurdles, while NV Sheena in women’s triple jump, Jabir MP in men’s 400m hurdles and the women's 4x100m relay team grabbed a bronze as India took one gold, one silver and three bronze medals on day three.

With one day left in the championship, India remained on top of the medal tally with 7 gold, 4 silver and 9 bronze medals.

China are in the second spot with 5 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze medals, while Iran are on third with 4 golds and 1 bronze medal.

Raghavan gave India a medal with a fine show in the women's 400m hurdles as she clocked 57.22 seconds, behind favourite Nguyen Thi (56.14) of Vietnam.

Home crowd favourite Dutee Chand grabbed her second bronze of the championships as she encored the host 4x100m relay team to the third place in the event in 44.57 seconds.

The other members of the quartet were Srabani Nanda, Himashree Roy and Merlin K Joseph. Kazakhstan took the gold in 43.53 seconds while China won the silver in 44.50 seconds.

In women's long jump, Sheena was lucky as she grabbed the bronze with her final effort of 13.42m.

Jabir then added an unexpected bronze in men's 400m hurdles, clocking a personal best of 50.22 seconds behind Eric Shawn Cray (49.57) of Philippines and Chen Chieh (49.75) of Chinese Taipei.

However, in men's 3000m steeplechase, Naveen Kumar, a bronze medallist in 2014 Asian Games, and Durga Das Budha finished a disappointing seventh and eighth in 9:02.95 and 9:04.05 respectively.

In men's 110m hurdles, India's Siddharth Thingalaya finished fifth in 13.72 seconds. Kuwait won both the gold and silver with Abdulazia Al-Mandeel and Yaqoub Al-Youha clocking 13.50 and 13.59 seconds respectively.

(With inputs from PTI)