Annu Rani becomes first Indian woman to win gold in javelin throw in Asian Games history
The 31-year-old Annu, who hails from Meerut, produced a season-best effort of 62.92m in her fourth attempt to win gold at the Asian Games.
Annu Rani conjured up her season-best performance to claim the top prize in women's javelin throw, while Parul Chaudhary pulled off a heist for a sensational women's 5000m gold, joining other four Indian athletes who bagged six medals in total at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old Annu, who hails from Meerut, became the first Indian woman to win gold in the javelin throw in the history of Asian games. She produced the season-best effort of 62.92m in her fourth attempt to win gold.
Sri Lankan Nadeesha Dilhan and China's Huihui Lyu claimed silver and bronze with efforts of 61.57m and 61.29m, respectively.
The 28-year-old Parul was behind Japan's Ririka Hironaka in the closing stage but stunned her rival with a stunning dash in the final 40 metres to claim the yellow metal with a timing of 15:14.75.
The performance earned Parul her second medal in Hangzhou after claiming a silver in the women's 3000m Steeplechase on Monday.
Kazakhtan's Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui won the bronze clocking 15:23.12.
Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath and Praveen Chitharavel also made India proud, securing silver and bronze in men's 800m and triple jump with efforts of 1:48.43s and 16.68m, respectively.
Tejaswin Shankar secured a silver in the men's decathlon with a national record of 7666 points, following a fourth-place finish in the 1500m—the final event of the physically demanding competition.
It was India's first men's decathlon medal since Vijay Singh Chauhan won a decathlon medal in the Asian Games in 1974, while the national record belonged to Bharatinder Singh (7,658 points).
Vithya Ramraj, 25, came up with a timing of 55.68s to claim a bronze medal in women's 400m hurdles.
It wasn't her best show, but it was good enough to secure a third-place finish.
Bahrain's Oluwakemi Mujidat Adekoya produced a games record of 54.45s and Jaidie Mo of China came up with a season-best of 55.01 to claim the gold and silver, respectively.
The Indian had equalled PT Usha's 400m hurdle national record, which was set in 1984, with a personal best effort of 55.52s to top her heat and directly qualify for the final on Monday.
In the women's high jump final, Pooja and Rubina Yadav ended their campaign in the sixth and ninth positions, respectively.
(This has been reworked for clarity.)
Edited by Suman Singh
