Asian Games 2026: All glitter without gold

Nagoya: Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage’s opening throw of 73.53m put India’s Yashvir Singh (83.56m) and Rohit Yadav (77.25m) ahead in the men’s javelin throw final. Even beyond the halfway mark, the Indians occupied the top two spots.But Pathirage, the world No. 1 who had arrived in Nagoya after winning the World Athletics Ultimate Championships two weeks ago, knew he needed just one good throw on yet another rain-hit, humid evening at the Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium on Monday.As his Indian neighbours hoped otherwise, the Lankan unleashed an 88.33m throw off his fourth attempt to move into the lead and stay there. Another big effort of 88.55m in his sixth and final attempt sealed the gold. Yashvir produced a personal best of 85.72m with his final throw to claim silver while Rohit’s third attempt of 84.25m proved enough for bronze.Asian Games 2026 | Neeru Dhanda strikes first-ever women’s trap gold, leads team to silverTwo-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, recovering from an injury and watching from somewhere far from the Japanese city, would surely have missed being part of a captivating competition. The former world champion, though, would have been proud of the Indians’ effort on a night when the 23-year-old Lankan stole the spotlight as he has this entire season.While a silver and a bronze came through the javelin throwers, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar and middle-distance runner Gulveer Singh added two more silvers. Quartermiler Vithya Ramraj’s bronze in the 400m hurdles, which came with a 42-year-old national record being broken, was another highlight for India, while long-distance runner Parul Chaudhary finished third in the women’s 5000m.Murali Sreeshankar battled injury to repeat his feat of a long jump silver at the Asian Games on Monday. In all, India added six medals to their tally on the penultimate day of track and field competition, with a gold still proving elusive.Sreeshankar’s second-round jump of 8.07m turned out to be the maximum he could manage before an issue during his fourth attempt ended his campaign. The mark, however, was enough to earn him another silver, adding to the one he won at the previous edition in Hangzhou.Asian Games 2026 | Second medal for Gulveer as he wins silver in 1,500MGulveer, on the other hand, surrendered his lead in the final stretch and appeared more than content with his second silver of the Games. After finishing runner-up in the 10000m a few nights ago, the national record-holder in the 10000m and 5000m clocked a personal best of 3:36.72 in the 1500m. He finished behind Japan’s Kazuto Iizawa (3:36.35) and ahead of his compatriot Nagiya Mori (3:37.92), who took bronze.Gulveer Singh bagged 1500m silver for his second medal this Asian Games. Like Gulveer, Parul and Vithya also earned their second medals of the Games.Parul, the gold medallist in the event at the previous edition, crossed the line in 15:14.61 to take bronze in the 5000m, following her third-place finish in the 3000m steeplechase. Bahrain’s Yavi Winfred dethroned her as she clocked 15:10.18 for her third gold of the Games, after victories in the 10000m and 3000m steeplechase. It was the first hat-trick of individual athletics gold medals at the Games in 40 years.Vithya’s second medal in Nagoya weighed heavier than a bronze as her 54.75-second run in the 400m hurdles not only secured her third place but also broke PT Usha’s 42-year-old national record, set in 1984.The icing on the cake was that the legendary athlete witnessed the record-breaking run in Nagoya where she is travelling as the president of the Indian Olympic Association.The one medal that slipped away from India was in the men’s 3000m steeplechase as Avinash Sable could only finish fourth despite producing a season-best 8:21.67.

Source: Deccan Herald