Gumi (South Korea), May 27: National record holder Gulveer Singh snared India’s first gold with a top finish in the men’s 10,000m event while Servin Sebastian clinched the 20km race walk bronze on a reasonably good opening day for the country at the 27th Asian Athletics Championships here on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old Gulveer, a bronze-medallist at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and a pre-race favourite, clocked 28 minute 38.63 seconds to win his maiden Asian Championships gold.
Japan’s Mebuki Suzuki (28:43.84) took the silver while Bahrain’s Albert Kibichi Rop (28:46.82) won the bronze. Another Indian in the fray, Sawan Barwal finished fourth with a time of 28:50.53.
At the end of the opening day, India stood at second place with one gold and one bronze, behind China (5 gold, 2 silver) and above Japan (3 silver, 2 bronze).
Gulveer was elated to pocket gold at the continental championships, though the warm weather at the time of his 25-lap race denied him a better timing.
“Irrespective of the time, the main goal was to finish first. I am happy to have successfully implemented my race strategy,” Gulveer said here.
“The gold medal will certainly enhance my world ranking and brighten chances to win a ticket to Tokyo World Athletics Championships in September.”
The automatic qualification in the men’s 10,000m is 27 minute.
Due to warm weather conditions, the local organising committee set up a water station during the 10,000m track race.
“I surged ahead in the last lap and shifted top gear at the 200m mark of the race. Had someone pushed me I could have gone faster as I wasn’t tired after crossing the finish line,” Gulveer said.
Earlier in the day, Sebastian claimed India’s first medal with a bronze in the men’s 20km race walk event, clocking 1 hour 21 minute and 13.60 seconds.
There was disappointment, though, in women’s javelin throw with Asian Games gold medallist and national record holder Annu Rani finishing fourth with a below-par effort of 58.30m.
Gulveer continues good form
Born to a farmer father at Sirsa village of Atrauli Tehsil in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh, Gulveer has been on a national record breaking spree, the last one being the 27:00.22 in 10000m earlier this year.
Going into the event as Asian leader this season, Gulveer ran a well calculated race to eventually leave behind his rivals by a fare distance.
He was in the leading pack throughout. Towards the end, it was a contest among the eventual three medal winners.
Just before the last lap, Kibichi was leading with Gulveer closely behind him. But soon, he made his final kick and was well ahead of the other two rivals midway into the last lap.
He had enough fuel in the tank to virtually sprint down the last 100m stretch.
Suzuki, the second best Asian so far this season, overtook Kibichi in the end to take the silver.
Gulveer is the third Indian to win the 10000m gold after Hari Chand (1975) and G Lakshmanan (2017).
He also holds the national record in 5000m, in which he is also competing here and would be aiming to better the bronze in the 2023 Asian Championships.
Sebastian’s timing was just shy of his personal best of 1:21:23sec, set earlier this year for a gold at the Uttarakhand National Games in February.
China’s Wang Zhaozhao (1:20:36.90) and Japan’s Kento Yoshikawa (1:20:44.90) won the gold and silver respectively.
Amit, the other Indian in the field, finished fifth with a time of 1:22:14.30.
All the three medal winners in the men’s 20km race walk event bettered the championships record of 1:24:42 set by Japanese Yutaro Murayama at the previous edition of the continental meet in 2023 in Bangkok.
Sebastian has been a consistent performer since the beginning of the 2025 season.
After the National Games, his second gold (1:21:47) at a domestic event was at the Indian Open Race Walking Competition in April in Chandigarh.
Sebastian stayed with the leading pack of seven athletes for a major part of the gruelling 20km event.
In the last two kilometers of the race, Wang Zhaozhao and Kento Yoshikawa opened up a small lead, which eventually widened as the Indian walker wasn’t able to catch up.
“I made efforts to narrow the gap but ended up in third place,” Sebastian said.
“It was a good race. I am happy to be among the medal winners in my first race at the continental event.”
In men’s high jump, Sarvesh Anil Kushare qualified for the final after finishing fourth in qualification group B with an effort of 2.10m.
TJ on top in Decathlon
National record holder decathlete Tejaswin Shankar was at the top in the nine-man field after the completion of five events out of 10 on Tuesday.
In men’s 400m, Vishal TK made it to the final round after finishing third in semifinal heat 2 with a personal best time of 46.05 seconds.
His women counterparts Rupal Chaudhary and Vithya Ramraj also made it to the women’s 400m finals.
Chaudhary won heat number one with a time of 53 seconds while Ramraj was second in heat number two, clocking 53.32 seconds.
Yoonus Shah also qualified for the men’s 1500m finals after finishing second in the qualification round, clocking 3 minutes and 46.96 seconds. (PTI)
