Asian U20 Athletics Championship: Heena Mallick, Bharatpreet Singh win gold; Antima Pal bags bronze in 5,000m event

India’s Antima Pal won bronze in the women’s 5000m race at the Asian U20 Athletics Championship in Yecheon on Sunday.

Heena Mallick. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

India’s Heena Mallick won India’s first gold medal in the women’s 400m event at the Asian U20 Athletics Championship in Yecheon on Sunday.

Mallick won her race in 53.31 secs.

Bharatpreet Singh clinched India’s second gold in the tournament with a 55.66m throw in the men’s discus throw event.

India's discus thrower Bhartpreet Singh wins 2nd gold at Asian U20 Athletics Championship in Yecheon today. His best throw of 55.66m was in 3rd round. pic.twitter.com/sJDgABE3t6

— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) June 4, 2023

He was able to achieve the mark in his third throw.

Antima Pal won bronze in the women’s 5000m race.

This was India’s first medal in the tournament. Her time of 17:17.11 secs ensured that she finished third.

Her compatriot Bushra Khan Gauri finished fifth with a time of 18:15.98 secs.

The gold and silver medallists of the event Yonezawa Nanaka and Matsumoto Akari are from Japan.

Shyam Milan Bind and Shakeel Q will participate in the men’s 800m final to be held June 5. Bind in his heat clocked 1:52.6 to finish third, while Shakeel clocked 1:51.58 to finish second in his heat.

Abinaya Rajarajan clocked 11.91 secs in her 100m heat to qualify for final.

Select results (gold medallists and Indian performances in finals)

Men: 400m: 1. Ismail Abakar (Qat) 46.17s. 3000m: 1. Nagashima Sonata (Jpn) 8:19.49s.

Pole vault: 1. Seifeldin Mohamed (Qat) 5.50m. (Dev Meena (Ind) no mark). Discus throw: 1. Bhartpreet Singh (Ind) 55.66m.

Women: 400m: 1. Rezoana Mallick Heena (Ind) 53.31s. 5000m: 1. Yonesawa Nanaka (Jpn) 16:37.37s, 3. Antima Pal (Ind) 17:17.11s, 5. Bushra Khan Gauri (Ind) 18:15.98.

Javelin throw: 1. Sakurai Nozomi (Jpn) 50.02m. Shot put: 1. Lin Jiaxin (Chn) 15.91m, 4. Vidhi (Ind) 15.16.