Indian athletes continue to bring glory: Swapna Barman, Arpinder Singh bags Gold in heptathlete and triple jump respectively
Jakarta, August 30: Indian athletes continue to script history! Swapna Barman and Arpinder Singh’s marvelous performance at the ongoing Asian Games made the tri-color hoist high. Notably, India on the 10th day won a total of four medals including 2 gold, a silver and a bronze. The medal tally of India reached to 54 including 11 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze and stands at ninth place.
India’s Swapna Barman on Wednesday scripted history after winning the country’s first ever gold medal in heptathlete while Arpinder Singh ended a 48-year long wait for triple jump victory after Dutee Chand blazed the track for her second silver at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Barman logged 6026 points from the seven events (heptathlete) competed for two days. En route the title, she won the high jump with 1003 points and javelin-throw with 872 points events and finished second-best in shot put with 707 points and long jump with 865 points.
On the other side, Arpinder jumped 16.77m in his third attempt to win the men's triple jump gold. India's last Asian Games gold medal in men's triple jump had come in 1970 from Mohinder Singh Gill.
Earlier in the day, Dutee won a silver medal by finishing second in the women's 200 metres race. She had finished second in the women's 100 metres dash a few days before. In Table Tennis, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra continued their splendid form by becoming the first Indian pair in history to get medal in the mixed doubles event. Kamal and Batra won bronze after losing to China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore and other ministers congratulated the winners on their success.
On Thursday, India will aim to improve its medal tally in the games as Indian Athletes will feature in six different categories today. Gold and Silver medalist in the men's 800 metres event Manjit Singh and Jinson Johnson will be in action in the men's 1500 metres final while Monika Choudhary and Chitra will vie for top honours in Women’s 1500 metres final.
Indian Men's and Women's team will also run for Gold in 4x400m relay competition. Govindan Lakshmanan will be seen in action in Men’s 5000 metres final. Sandeep Kumari and Seema Punia will feature in Women’s discus throw final.
BACKGROUND:
The best performance by India at the Asian Games came at the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, China where they finished sixth with 14 gold, 17 silver and 34 bronze. This year, around 12,000 athletes from 45 countries will compete in 40 disciplines.