Indian athletes bring glory in track & field disciplines

With a haul of 254 medals from the 18 preceding editions going into the Hangzhou Asian Games, athletics had been India’s most productive medal sport at the continental Games. At the last Games in Jakarta five years ago, track and field accounted for 20 medals (8 gold, 9 silver, 3 bronze) to become the lead contributor to India’s 70-medal surge, their highest ever.

- SHANTANU SRIVASTAVA

On the evidence of Sunday’s medal rush, India seem poised not only to add handsomely to the athletics medal count from the previous Games but to overhaul the total medal count from the 2018 Games in Indonesia. India turned up in style on the second day of athletics events, bagging nine medals (2 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze) to add to the lone bronze they won on Saturday.

The biggest focus though was the drama involving 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, whose bronze was upgraded to silver after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) lodged a protest about local athlete Wu Yanni’s initial disqualification for a false start being revoked. For several minutes, Yarraji and Wu were seen debating with track officials near the start as they repeatedly viewed the video of the incident.

When the race finally started, Wu was allowed to run. She finished second, but was eventually disqualified and Yarraji (12.91 secs) was placed second. China’s Lin Yuwei took gold clocking 12.74secs. Japan’s Yumi Tanaka, who had come in fourth, was upgraded to bronze (13.04secs).