Murali Sreeshankar from Kerala wins his 2nd Asian Games medal in men's long jump (silver)

MURALI Sreeshankar from Palakkad secured a second consecutive silver medal in the men’s long jump at the Asian Games on Monday (September 28), overcoming an injury during the final to finish on the podium.

The 2022 Asian Games silver medallist produced a best effort of 8.07 m in his second attempt, which was enough to confirm another medal for India.

Sreeshankar’s medal came after Long-distance runner Parul Chaudhary could not defend her gold but continued India’s medal-winning run at the Asian Games with a bronze in the women’s 5000 m final.

The 31-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, who had won gold at Hangzhou in 2023, clocked 15:14.61 to finish third behind gold medallist Winfred Yavi of Bahrain (15:10.18) and silver medallist Nozomi Tanaka of Japan (15:11.65).

It was Chaudhary’s second medal of the Games, following her bronze in the women’s 3000m steeplechase on Sunday.

Seema, who had won a bronze in the women’s 10,000m, finished sixth after clocking 15:35.06.

This was after Indian long-distance runner Gulveer Singh secured a silver medal in the men’s 1500 m final with a personal best effort of 3:36.72 and Vithya Ramraj clinched a bronze medal in the women’s 400 m hurdles event.

Gulveer, who had already won a silver in the 10,000 m in the ongoing edition, finished behind gold medallist Kazuto Iizawa of Japan, while compatriot Nagiya Mori won the bronze with an effort of 3:37.92.

The other Indian, Yoonus Shah, finished ninth with an effort of 3:43.88.

Earlier, Ramraj clinched a bronze medal in the women’s 400m hurdles event but long-distance runner Avinash Sable failed to defend his gold medal, finishing fourth in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final.

Ramraj clocked a personal best of 54.75 seconds to break a more than four-decade-old national record created by the legendary P T Usha and win a second medal at the ongoing edition of the quadrennial event. She was a part of the silver-winning the 4x400m mixed relay team.

Later, the injury-ravaged Sable produced a season’s best effort but could not defend his gold medal, finishing fourth in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final.

The 32-year-old from Maharashtra, a two-time Olympian, clocked 8:21.67sec, finishing 4.31 seconds behind Japan’s Ryuji Miura, who won the gold with a Games record of 8:17.36sec.