Asian Athletics Championships 2023: Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Parul Chaudhary win gold medals

Indian shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and runner Parul Chaudhary won gold medals at the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor heaved his best throw of the day on his second attempt to retain his continental title. He started with 19.80m and followed it up with 20.23m. The 28-year-old Indian athlete did not go for the rest of his four attempts and limped out of the event with a groin injury.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor has participated in seven competitions in 2023 and has clinched gold medals in all of them. Mehdi Saberi of Iran bagged the silver medal in Bangkok with a 19.98m throw while Kazakhstan’s Ivan Ivanov claimed the bronze with 19.87m.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor also won the gold medal at the last edition of the Asian championships held in Doha four years ago. He claimed a silver at the 2017 edition held in Bhubaneswar.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor, who is also the reigning Asian Games champion and Asian indoor championships gold medallist, holds the Asian and national record of 21.77m set in Bhubaneswar last month.

Parul Chaudhary, meanwhile, won her first gold medal at the Asian championships, claiming the top podium in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. The 28-year-old had won bronze in the 5000m race in 2019 but had missed the podium twice in the 3000m steeplechase. She finished fourth in 2017 and fifth in 2019.

Parul Chaudhary clocked 9:38.76 to win her race in Bangkok ahead of the People's Republic of China’s Xu Shuangshuang (9:44.54) and Japan’s Reimi Yoshimura (9:48.48). India’s Priti claimed the fourth spot in 9:48.50.

The 19-year-old Shaili Singh claimed silver in the women’s long jump event with a 6.54m effort. Shaili Singh, who won silver at the 2021 world U20 championships, produced her best effort with her first attempt and was leading the leaderboards at the halfway stage.

Japan’s Sumire Hata, the reigning Asian indoor champion, came up with a personal best of 6.97m on her final attempt and went on to win the gold medal. Zhong Jiawei of China pipped India’s 2022 national champion Ancy Sojan for third place, clearing 6.46m. Ancy Sojan could manage only 6.41m.

The men’s 3,000m steeplechase saw India’s Bal Kishan finish fourth with a timing of 8:46.98. Mohammed Nurhasan pulled out of the race midway and did not finish (DNF).

The three medals on the third day took India’s tally to nine at the Asian championships which include five gold medals. Hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, triple jumper Abdulla Aboobacker and middle-distance runner Ajay Kumar Saroj topped the podium on Thursday.

The Asian Athletics Championships 2023 will conclude on July 16.