Asian Games: Vithya Ramraj wins bronze in women’s 400m hurdles, fails to break PT Usha’s record

HANGZHOU — Vithya Ramraj had raised hopes of breaking the 49-year-old National Record in the women’s 400m hurdles after she equalled the mark set by PT Usha in the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul during heats at the Hangzhou Olympics Sports Complex here.

However, on Tuesday she fell short in her bid to improve on the mark of 55.42 as she clocked 55.68 in the Women’s 400m hurdles final at the Asian Games here, winning a bronze medal.

In a race run on a wet track and with a slight drizzle adding to the challenge, Vithya made a good start but fell behind Bahrain’s Oluwakemi Mujidat Adekoya, the 2014 Incheon Asian Games gold medallist who had finished fourth in the recent World Championships in Budapest. The Bahrain runner took the gold medal in an Asian Games record time of 54.45 seconds. China’s Mo Jiadie took the silver medal in 55.01 seconds, her season’s best effort.

Vithya said she was impacted a bit by the wet conditions underfoot though she said that was not the sole reason for her failing to break the national record.

“I have raced in wet conditions earlier also, at Bangalore so that is not the reason,” she said after the race.

“I feel happy because I got a medal, but the performance could have been better, so there is some disappointment over the timing. But I’m so, so happy,” said Vithya.

The 25-year-old said the conditions did hamper them. “It rained, so when I started the warm-up, I felt very cold, and I had to wear everything to keep warm. But we can’t make excuses, we’re sportspersons, we should be used to different conditions.

“In Trivandrum, we practice in different climates. I was a bit slow on the first two hurdles. Normally, after the first two hurdles, I got more confident. But today, the first two hurdles I missed, I don’t know, maybe I was ‘nervous’. This was my first international,” she said.

Asian Games: Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh win bronze for India in Men’s C-2 1000m canoeing

HANGZHOU — India claimed a bronze medal in the Canoe Sprint competitions at the 19th Asian Games when Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh Salam finished third in the Men’s Canoe Double 1000m at the Fuyang Water Sports Centre, here on Tuesday.

In the final held at the picturesque Fuyang riverfront, Arjun Singh, 16, and Sunil Singh, 24, finished in third place in 3:53.329 to trail in behind gold medallist Uzbekistan (3:43.796) and silver medallist Kazakstan (3:49.991).

This is India’s second medal in canoeing in the Asian Games after Johnny Rommel and Siji Kumar Sadanandan bagged a bronze in the Men’s Canoe Double 1000m in the Hiroshima Games in 1994.

The Indian duo had started well and were in first place by the 250m mark, completing it in 53.92 seconds. But the Uzbeki and Kazakh paddlers raced past them and Arjun and Sunil Singh were in third place at the midway stage. They maintained their position.

This is the second Asian Games for Sunil Men’s C-2 1000m in 2018 in Indonesia, finishing sixth overall. He is a very experienced paddler having participated in C-2 1000m and C-1 2000m at the World Championships in 2019 and 2023 and World Cups.

In contrast, this is only the second international event for the 16-year-old Arjun Singh. Earlier this year, he participated in the World Championships in Duisburg, Germany, finishing 9th in Men’s C-2 1000m.

This took India’s overall medals tally to 61 with 13 gold, 24 silver and 24 bronze.

Ehsan Hadadi loses men’s discus gold for first time since 2006 Asian Games

HANGZHOU — Iranian strongman, Ehsan Hadadi finally failed to win a gold medal in the men’s discus throw at the Asian Games after remaining unbeaten for 16 years.

Hadadi, the 38-year-old London Olympic Games silver medallist has won the Men’s discus through for a record four editions of the Asian Games.

He first bagged a gold medal in discus throw in the 2006 edition in Doha, Qatar and continued to win gold medals in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 editions of the Asian Games. No one could displace him. He holds the Asian record of 69.32 metres and the Asian Games record of 67.99m.

On Monday, the unthinkable happened! Hadadi was beaten and had to be satisfied with the silver medal.

He managed to throw the iron disc to 61.82, his season’s best. But his compatriot Hossein Rasouli threw to a distance of 62.04 metres to win the gold medal. Haddadi was satisfied with the silver medal while China’s Lueigong Abuduaini won the bronze medal in 61.19 metres.

Interestingly, Rasouli was just eight years old when Ehsan Hadadi first won the gold medal in the Asian Games. On Monday, he ended the win streak of the Iranian legend.

Also read: Asian Games: Lone ranger Avinash Sable wins historic gold in 3000m steeplechase