After five in five, Meerut's Rupal targets big

A long injury layoff, five appearances in national and international events and a podium finish in all five events, bagging four golds and a silver sums up the sterling performance of young sprinter Rupal Chaudhary who now aims to continue her form in many more big events, including the World Championships at Tokyo later this year.

- Sharad Deep

LUCKNOW:

Meerut's Rupal lit the recently concluded Asian Athletics Championship on fire, winning two golds and a silver medal, underlining her dominance on the tracks of the Gumi Civic Stadium in South Korea.

She won gold medals in the mixed 4x400m relay and 4x400m women's relay before winning a silver medal in the women's 400m race. Two others from Uttar Pradesh namely Gulveer Singh of Aligarh and Parul Chaudhary of Meerut too won two medals each, depicting the strength of Uttar Pradesh athletes at the Asian level in style.

While Gulveer won gold in men's 1000m and 5000m, Asian Games medallist Parul bagged silver in women's 3000m steeplechase and 5000m race. In team events, the quartet of Santosh Kumar, Rupal Chaudhary, Vishal and Subha Venkatesan clinched the gold medal in the mixed 4x400m relay race, while Rupal and Subha were also part of the women's team which bagged gold in 4x400m race alongside Jisna Mathew and Rajitha.