India concluded their campaign at the U18 Asian Athletics Championships on a high, adding four medals on the final day, including a historic gold in the men’s Javelin event in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, on Friday.
Himanshu Jakhar scripted history by winning India’s first-ever gold medal in the Javelin category of the Asian U18 Championships.
He faced little competition from the rest of the field. His first throw of 67.57m, which incidentally was nowhere near his personal best of 74.56m, proved to be enough on the night for him to rise to the top of the podium.
Later, Devak Bhusan took the Indian medal tally to double digits with a silver medal in the men’s high jump with a leap of 2.03m. He finished just behind the Kuwaiti athlete, Mohammad Alduaij, who cleared 2.05m.
Earlier, Aarti doubled her medal tally at the competition after winning a bronze medal in women’s 200m by clocking 22.41s. She had previously won bronze in the women’s 100m on Wednesday.
Mixed day in Medley Relay
India ended its campaign with a silver medal in the final event of the competition, the men’s medley relay event – a unique relay event, where every member of the quartet runs a unique distance (100+200+300+400).
The Indian quartet of Chiranth P, Sayed Sabeer, Saket Minj, and Kadir Khan clocked 1:52.15s in the final to clinch a silver medal, finishing just behind the strong Chinese.
On the other hand, the Indian women’s medley team – a medal contender – endured a disappointing end as they were unable to finish the race due to a baton drop at the first exchange.
India ended its campaign at the Asian U18 Championships with 11 medals: 1 Gold, 5 Silver, and 5 Bronze.
Incidentally, this was the worst ever medal tally for India at the U18 Asian level, but it must be stated that a depleted contingent was sent for the event.
