Parul, Toor add to India's golden run in Asian C'ships

It is not surprising to see Parul Chaudhary in inspired form this season. Training alongside Avinash Sable in the high-altitude of Colorado Springs for three months, Chaudhary saw the insatiable drive of the Armyman, who keeps lowering his national record and stunned a world-class field in Birmingham CWG last year with a surprise silver medal, and it is impossible to not be affected.

- Avishek Roy

That said, Chaudhary now wants to carve out a similar path for herself and raise her standards in major international meets. Earlier this year, she broke a 13-year-old Indian record in women’s 5000m (15:10.35s) at a meet in the US. And that newly-acquired resolve and stubbornness were on show at the Asian Championships in Bangkok on Friday as she won gold in the women’s 3000m steeplechase race.

Her timing of 9:38.76secs is not an improvement on his personal best -- 9:29.51 -- that she achieved this year, but her sheer domination of the field is a reflection of her growing stature.

“My target was to win gold. It was a comfortable race for me though I wanted to clock better timings and was not satisfied that way," said Parul.