Asian U20 Athletics: Indians Dominate 3000m Steeplechase Events as Akta, Ranvir Claim Gold Medals

New Delhi: Indian athletes dominate the men’s and women’s 3,000m steeplechase events at the 21st Asian U20 Athletics Championships to swell the gold medal tally to three on the second day of competitions in Dubai on Thursday. Ekta Dey claimed gold in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 10:31.92 seconds, while Ranvir Singh was victorious in the men’s competition, winning the gold medal in 9:22.62 seconds.

Earlier, Anurag Singh Kaler won gold in the men’s shot-put event. Overall Indian athletes won seven medals on Thursday.

In the morning session, race walker Aarti set the ball rolling, bagging a hard-fought bronze medal in the women’s 10,000m.

Aarti’s bronze-winning time of 47:45.33 seconds was better than the World U20 Athletics Championships qualification time of 49 minutes.

Later, throwers added three more medals, including gold to the team’s tally.

Anurag Singh Kaler took time to settle down in the shot put. He battled with South Korean Park Sihoon for the gold. Kaler’s gold-winning throw of 19.23m was achieved in his third turn after he opened his campaign with a throw of 18.44 and reached 18.69m on the second attempt. Fourth and fifth were no marks and sixth and final throw was 18.79m.

Park Sihoon too had a best throw of 19.23m but took home silver as Kaler had a better average in the contest, which denied Korea a gold medal.

Defending champion Siddharth Choudhary settled for bronze with a throw of 19.02m scored in the second attempt. His other throws were below the 19m mark.

Amanat Kamboj, who has been practicing at Patiala’s National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) in Punjab and supported by REC Limited, added silver to the team’s tally. Her best throw was 50.45m.

Aman Choudhary also won bronze in the men’s 400m with a timing of 47.53 seconds.

(IANS)