In Gumi, South Korea, on Thursday, steeplechaser Avinash Sable and hurdler Jyothi Yarraji turned in outstanding performances to earn gold medals at the Asian Athletics Championships. India finished off a great day when the women's 4x400m relay team sprinted to a third gold.

With two days of competition still to go, India's medal count reached 14 thanks to the silver medal won by the men's relay squad (4x400m) and the silver and bronze medals won by Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh in the long jump, respectively.

Despite a thunderstorm causing a delay in the evening session, Indian athletes performed well one after the other once it began. Sable was the first to leave. The two-time Olympian and Asian Games gold medalist led the race, crossing the finish line in 8:20.92 seconds, well ahead of Japanese Yutaro Niinae (8:24.41 seconds) and Qatari Zakaria Elahlaami (8:27.12 seconds). This was Sable's finest season, beginning with the Diamond League in April.

He would be just as pleased with his strategic performance, even if the medal would provide a boost before the world championships in Tokyo in September. The Armyman, who holds the national record of 8:09.91 seconds, had a great start and maintained the lead until around the middle of the race, when he ducked behind Niinae and let the Japanese take the lead.

Sable took the lead back on the final lap and kept increasing the distance between himself and Niinae, who just disappeared, after the last water leap. With a silver medal in Doha in 2019, this was Sable's second medal at the continental competition. Dina Ram's gold medal in this sport in 1989 was India's most recent victory in this discipline.

Yarraji's gold in the 100-meter hurdles, which set a new championship mark of 12.96 seconds, was just as amazing. Yarraji started out slowly but recovered with a strong late surge, leaving Yumi Tanaka (13.07 seconds) and Wu Yanni (13.07 seconds) behind. Yun Feng of China held the previous championship mark of 12.97 seconds, which he set in 1998.

The victory marked Yarraji's second consecutive gold medal at the Asian competition. This occurs during a period when she has battled injury and has failed to break the 13-second barrier this year. The Asian Games silver medalist stated, "It has been a tough season with injuries, but I am happy to break the 13-second barrier here in a quality field." Yarraji sustained a hamstring injury during training prior to the Federation Cup and underwent a challenging rehabilitation period. She has been working hard this month to get back in shape after recording 13.10 seconds at the Federation Cup.

Yarraji has also modified her step pattern to gain speed. "Before the Paris Olympics, I used to take seven strides between hurdles, but I was getting injured." I'm better suited to the eight-stride approach because of my long legs. Before departing for Korea, she stated that it was her original approach, which had increased her pace.

Then, in the 4x400m relay competition, the women's relay team of Jisna Mathew, Rupal Chaudhary, Kunja Rajitha, and Subha Venkatesan won gold. They finished in 3:34.18 seconds, beating out Vietnam (3:34.77 seconds), which won the silver medal, and Sri Lanka (3:36.67 seconds), which won the bronze. India took the lead in the second leg thanks to Rupal's run. Despite tough competition from Sri Lanka and Vietnam, Rajita maintained India's position. Subha then performed a strong anchor leg after Rajitha handed her the baton, securing the gold for India.

The men's 4x400m relay team of Jay Kumar, Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil Saji, and Vishal TK won silver in 3:03.67sec, finishing behind Qatar (3:03.52sec). With a strong anchor run, Vishal was able to defeat China (3:03.73sec).

Singh won the bronze medal in the long jump competition with a jump of 6.30 meters, while Sojan took home silver with a jump of 6.33 meters. Reihaneh Mobini Arani of Iran won the gold with a jump of 6.40 meters.

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