Meerut's Rupal wins a gold and silver

Uttar Pradesh's Rupal Chaudhary on Wednesday hogged the limelight at the 26th Asian Athletics Championship at Gumi in South Korea, winning a gold and a silver medal to take India's overall tally to eight medals on a brilliant second day of the event.

- HT Correspondent/PTI

LUCKNOW:

Meerut's Rupal, along with Santhosh Kumar, Vishal TK, and Subha Venkatesan, won the top honours with a timing of 3:18.12sec in the 4x400m mixed relay event after winning a silver medal in the individual women's 400m earlier in the day. In fact, the mixed relay team defended its gold with a domineering performance.

The mixed gold was India's second top finish after national record-holder Gulveer Singh's (10,000m) brilliance on Tuesday. Quarter-miler Rupal opened India's account for the day, clocking 52.68 seconds to finish second in the women's 400m final. Fellow Indian Vithya Ramraj was placed fifth with a time of 53.00 seconds.

Rupal had scripted history by becoming the first Indian athlete to win two medals at the World U20 Athletics Championships in 2022, claiming a silver in the 4x400m relay followed by a bronze in the women's 400m events back then.