Asian Athletics Championship: Meet the five stars who won India gold medals

The Asian Athletics Championship 2017 concluded on Sunday at Kalinga Stadium, in Odisha India topped the table with 29 medals and that included 12 gold. India pushed China to the second spot in the table. China had won 20 medals that included eight gold.

It has definitely been a golden campaign for India at the Asian Athletics Championship held in Odisha. On Sunday, India grabbed a record-breaking tally of medals at the Asian Athletics Championship (AAC) pushing China to the second position in the closing table.

India won a total of 29 medals that includes 12 gold, five silver and 12 bronze, their highest ever medal haul. Last time India’s record had 21 medals during the AAC games held at Jakarta and Delhi. China ended this edition in second position with eight gold, seven silver, five bronze.

Out of 29 medals that India won in 2017 AAC, the final day included five gold, one silver and three bronze. Here are the five players who won gold for India.

Swapna Barman: The 20-year-old heptathlete secured the first gold medal for India. Hailing from a low-income family, Barman who has six fingers each in both the legs has been finding it difficult to get proper shoes.Facing all the obstacles, Barman used to go through rigorous training at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Patiala in her early career. She was still battling injuries and was on painkillers when she achieved this feat.

Lakshmanan Govindan: This is not the first time Govindan has won medals for India in AAC. In the last edition that was held in China, he won silver and bronze in the 10,000m and 5,000m  respectively.

This time he upped the stakes to win a  gold medal. He finished the 10,000 m race in 29: 55:87. Surprisingly he also won the gold medal in 5,000m on an opening day.

Neeraj Chopra: Neeraj Chopra, the Indian track and field athlete in the javelin throw won his gold medal with a throw of 85.23m. 20-year-old Chopra had won a gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games which equalled an Indian national record throw of 82.23m. 

Women’s 4*400m relay: Indian women won their relay race clocking a time span of 3:31.34. The team included Nirmala Sheoran, M Povamma, Jisna Mathew and Debashree Mazumdar.

Men’s 4*400m relay: The men’s team included Kunhu Muhammad, Muhammad Anas, Rajiv Arokia and Amoj Jacob who clocked 3 minute 2.92 seconds to win the gold.