India’s Ankita Dhyani won the silver medal in the women’s 3000m event at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2024 in Tehran, Iran on Monday.
Gulveer Singh, too, clinched the gold in the men’s event but was later disqualified.
Ankita clocked 9:26.22 at Tehran’s Aftab e Enghelab Sports Complex for her spot in the podium. Japan’s Yuma Yamamoto clinched the gold in 9:16.71 while Ainuska Kalil Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan clocked 9:27.18 for the bronze medal in an eight-woman field.
Interestingly, Yamamoto and Dhyani had also claimed podiums at the outdoor Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok last year in the women’s 5000m race. While the Japanese runner topped the event, Dhyani won the bronze medal.
Competing in a 14-man field, Gulveer Singh finished first in the men’s 3000m race but was later stripped of his medal due to lane infringement. Iran’s Jalil Naseri, who was initially awarded the bronze medal, was also disqualified
Gulveer Singh, an Asian Games bronze medallist in the 10,000m, had initially clocked (8:07.48) to pip Nursultan Keneshbekov of Kyrgyzstan (8:08.85) and Jalil Naseri (8:09.39) for the top step on the podium.
However, with the disqualification of Gulveer and Naseri, Nursultan, who competed in the 5000m race at the Tokyo Olympics, was awarded the gold while Iran’s Seyed Amir Zamanpour (8:09.58) was upgraded to silver. Kazakh runner Frolovskiy (8:17.17) completed the revised podium.
In the women’s pole vault at the Tehran meet, India’s Baranica Elangovan came fifth with a clearance of 3.80m. The gold and silver went to the People’s Republic of China with Li Ling (4.51m) and Niu Chunge (4.41m) while Iran’s Mahsa Mirzatabibi logged 4.10m for bronze.
India’s Mohammed Afsal, an Asian Games silver medallist, ended with a wooden spoon in the men’s 800m, clocking 1:55.16 in the six-man final. Kuwait’s Ebrahim Alzofairi (1:46.80), Iran’s Sobhan Ahmadi (1:47.04) and Qatar’s Abubaker Haydar Abdalla (1:47.74) claimed the podium spots.
Earlier in Tehran, Harmilan Bains and Jyothi Yarraji won gold in the women’s 1500m and 60m hurdles, respectively while Tajinderpal Singh Toor defended his men’s shot put crown.
With three gold medals and one silver, India finished fifth on the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2024 medals tally. China topped the standings with eight golds, six silvers and two bronze medals for a total of 16.
India's best result at the meet came in Doha in 2008 when the Indian athletes claimed five gold medals, nine silvers and three bronze for a total of 17 medals and topped the standings.