Asian Games: Neeraj, men's relay team stars as athletes push India's medal tally

Hangzhou: Led by World and Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra the Indian track and field stars came up with some brilliant efforts to claim seven medals including two gold medals on the penultimate day of athletics competitions at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday.

The day started with Manju Rani and Baboo Ram winning a bronze medal in the 35km Race Walk Mixed Team competition and ended with the Men's 4x400m relay team grabbing a historic first gold since 1962 in Jakarta.

In between Neeraj Chopra ruled the Indian hearts as he came up with his season's best throw of 88.88 to defend the title he had claimed in the 2018 edition in Indonesia.

The most unique thing about the men's javelin throw competition at the 19th Asian Games from the Indian perspective was that it was another Indian thrower that had threatened to finish ahead of Chopra.

In the end, Kishore Kumar Jena finished second with a personal best effort of 87.54 which also sealed him a berth in the Paris Olympic Games next year. With Pakistan's World Championship silver medallist Arshad Nadeem pulling out with an injury on the eve of the competition, India set the stage for a 1-2 finish, and both Chopra and Jena did not disappoint.

Though it was unclear whether Jena gave Chopra a few anxious moments, the Chinese official conducting the men's javelin throw competition left Chopra baffled for some time as they failed to measure his first attempt.

According to Chopra, the officials said they could not find the mark where the javelin landed as another competitor had made his throw -- a unique and unheard-of situation in major international competitions.

Though this incident did not impact Chopra much and he went on to register his season's best and win the gold medal, Indian athletics officials saw in this all a conspiracy by the Chinese to distract and disturb the Indian athletes.

There was however no distraction for Harmilan Bains and Avinash Sable as they bagged their second medals in the 19th Asian Games.

Harmilan, who had earlier won silver in the women's 1500m race, got caught in a jam on the track before she extricated herself from the group and

won the silver medal -- emulating her mother Madhuri, who had won the silver medal two decades ago at the Busan Asian Games in 2002.

While Harmilan got the bragging rights in the Bains family for winning a silver more than her mother in the Asian Games, Avinash Sable quietly went about his job establishing himself as India's best middle-distance runner.

Having won gold in the men's 3000m steeplechase a storming run from the front, Sable on Wednesday picked up a silver in the men's 5000m race, finishing behind Bahrain's Birhanu Yemataw Balew, who set a new Asian Games record of 13:17.40 to defend the gold that he had won in 2018 in Indonesia.

Sable finished second in 13:21.09, his effort is creditable as he had run the 3000m steeplechase just a few days back. India's Gulveer Singh nearly made it to the podium, just like he did in the men's 1500m, as he finished fourth with a personal best time of 13:29.93.

The Indian women's 4x400m relay team disappointed their fans as it failed to win the race India has dominated for the last two decades, winning gold in every edition since Busan 2002.

The quartet of Vithya Ramraj, Aishwarya Mishra, Prachi, and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3:27.85 to claim the silver medal behind Bahrain, who set a new Asian Games Record of 3:27.65.

The men's 4x400m relay team however covered themselves in glory as it won the gold medal at the Asian Games for the first time since 1962 in Jakarta. The quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jecob, Muhammed Ajmal, and Rajesh Ramesh won the gold medal with a timing of 3:01.58.

This was India's sixth gold medal in Hangzhou and took their tally in athletics to 29 medals (6 gold, 14 silver, and 9 bronze).

The seven medals by the athletes took India's overall tally to 81 medals in Hangzhou. They now have won 18 gold. 31 silver and 32 bronze medals with two days of competitions remaining in archery, badminton, wrestling, chess, cricket, and hockey from which India is expecting a few more medals.