Asian Games 2023 athletics: India’s Kiran Baliyan wins bronze medal in shot put
The Indian athlete won the medal with a 17.36m throw while Manpreet Kaur managed fifth place. Priyanka Goswami finished fifth in the 20km race walk.
Athletics
India’s Kiran Baliyan won a bronze medal in the women’s shot put event at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, the People’s Republic of China on Friday. It was India’s first medal in athletics at the Asian Games 2023.
The 24-year-old Indian athlete, who achieved her personal best of 17.92m at the Indian Grand Prix 5 earlier this month, hurled a 17.36m throw on her third attempt and stayed there till the end of six throws.
India’s last medal in the women’s shot put came way back in the inaugural edition at 1951 New Delhi when Barbara Webster won the bronze medal.
Olympic champion Gong Lijiao of China and her compatriot Song Jiayuan clinched gold and silver with best throws of 19.58 and 18.92, respectively. Gong Lijiao also came in as the defending Asian Games champion.
Manpreet Kaur, who holds the Indian national record of 18.06m, hit the 16.25m mark on her first attempt but could not better it to finish fifth in the field of 11 athletes.
Earlier in the day, Priyanka Goswami finished fifth in the women’s 20km race walk event with a timing of 1:43.07. She holds India’s national record of 1:28:45, set in 2021.
China's Yang Jiayu went on to defend her Asian Games title in 1:30:03 while Ma Zhenxia of China came a close second in 1:30:04. Japan's Fujji Nanako won the bronze in 1:33:49.
Vikash Singh finished fifth in the men’s 20km race walk event, timing his run in 1:27.33. China also claimed the top two spots in the men's event with the gold medal going to Jun Zhang in 1:23.00 and silver to Zhaozhao Wang in 1:24:08. Japan's Murayaam Yutaro settled for bronze in the 11-man field with a timing of 1:24:41.
India’s Tanya Chaudhary and Rachna Kumari were in action in the women’s hammer throw. While Tanya Chaudhary finished seventh with a best throw of 60.50. Rachna Kumari was ninth with 58.13.
In the women’s 400m, India’s Aishwarya Kailash Mishra clocked a season-best of 52.73 for second place in heat 2 and got an automatic qualification for the final. Himanshi Malik clocked 57.82 to come fourth in heat 3 and missed out. The top two runners from each of the three heats and the following two fastest times qualified for the eight-woman final on Saturday.
Muhammed Ajmal made it to the finals in the men’s 400m after clocking 45.76 for second position in heat 2. Muhammed Anas Yahiya narrowly missed out after claiming third place in heat 1 with a timing of 46.29.