Chennai: The 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championship was held in Astana, Kazakhstan from 10th to 12th. A 26-member team from India participated in this series.
In this series, India won 8 medals i.e. 1 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze and placed 6th in the medal list. Japan took the top spot with 6 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze. Kazakhstan, which hosted the tournament, finished 2nd with 6 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze.
The Indian team that participated in this series included 7 players from Tamil Nadu. 4 of them won 3 silver and 1 bronze medal. 3 others missed out on the medal in threadbare. In the men’s triple jump, Praveen Chitravel won the silver medal with a distance of 16.98 meters.
In the women’s pole vault, Pavitra Venkatesh won the silver medal with a jump of 4m and Rosy Meenapalraj won the bronze medal with a jump of 3.90m. In it, Rosie Meena graced the medal podium despite facing health issues ahead of her departure to Kazakhstan. Pavitra Venkatesh and Japan’s May Nusa had crossed 4 meters height. However, Pavitra Venkatesh cleared the height of 3.80 meters in two attempts. After this, the gold medal was awarded to Mayo Nus on ‘countback’ basis.
In the men’s long jump, Josh Aldrin won the silver medal with a leap of 7.93 meters. Aldrin missed the gold medal by 0.5 meters. Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Tang Lin won gold with a throw of 8.02m. Inexperienced in indoor athletics, Jesse Aldrin fouled four of his six attempts. Jesswin Aldrin had cleared 8.37 meters in last year’s Federation Cup.
In the women’s 60m race, Archana Suchindran missed out on a chance to win a medal by crossing the mark in 7.39 seconds. Indonesia’s Valentinvanesa won the bronze medal in the race by covering the distance in 7.37 seconds. In the men’s pole vault, Siva Subramaniam disappointed by finishing 5th with a height of 5.15m. The medal winning Tamil Nadu sportsmen and women are arriving at Chennai airport at 2.45 pm today. Arrangements have been made by Tamil Nadu Sports Development Authority and Tamil Nadu Athletics Association to give them a warm welcome at the airport.
