Nagoya, Sept 25: Baranica Elangovan on Friday scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win a pole vault medal at the Asian Games, clinching a bronze, while Gulveer Singh also entered into record books, becoming the first track and field athlete from the country to achieve podium finishes twice in 10,000m race with a silver here.
Shot putter Manpreet Kaur then redeemed herself after years of toil, winning a bronze, as India bagged three medals on the third day of athletics competition.
India’s medals tally in athletics has swelled to five, with the two of them coming on Thursday.
Baranica shared the bronze with Ivanova Polina of Kazakhstan after both soared over 4.15m and there was nothing to separate the two in the countback in a rare joint award of a medal in a major tournament.
Both cleared 3.65m, 3.85m and 4m in their respective first attempts. Then, both of them needed second attempts to clear 4.15m but failed to rise above 4.25m in three attempts.
“This is incredible. I’m really happy that I could able to bring a medal for my country. It’s my dream actually to write history and I did it today,” the 29-year-old from Tamil Nadu said.
“I never thought of giving up because my coach made me mentally prepared for everything,” said Baranica about her coach Milber Bertrand Russel who was also present here.
She said she did not believe it when Sindhushree G, the other Indian in the fray, told her that I had won a bronze.
“I didn’t know actually, I was checking. Sindhushree was telling me that I have won a bronze. I didn’t believe, I said I need to check, re-check. I checked it twice, thrice and then only I got to know about the medal.”
“I didn’t believe it actually, I was telling my coach, this was the medal, there was a display and I was asking him to check, how come I didn’t know like that. I was really excited after seeing that, but also not believing.”
Meanwhile, Gulveer clinched a silver to become the first Indian to win to medals in 10,000m in the Asian Games history.
The 28-year-old Gulveer, who had won a bronze in the same event in the last edition China, clocked 28 minute 29.38 seconds to take the second spot behind defending champion Birhanu Balew of Bahrain, who claimed the gold in 28 minutes 27.51 seconds.
Albert Kipto, also from Bahrain, completed the podium with a time of 28:34.18.
Six Indians had earlier won 10,000m medals in different editions but none had so far won two before Gulveer achieved the milestone at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium here.
Gurbachan Singh (1951, bronze), Tarlok Singh (1962, gold), Shivnath Singh (1974, silver), Hari Chand (1978, gold), Gulab Chand (1998, bronze) and Kartik Kumar (2022, silver) were the earlier Indian medal winners in 10,000m in the Asian Games.
Gulveer, who holds the national record of 27:00.22 in the event, was always in the leading group throughout the race but Balew, the pre-race favourite and Asian season leader, sprinted down at the final stretch to leave behind Gulveer by a fair distance.
He had won silver in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5,000m at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year.
“I won a silver and changed the colour of the medal, so I am very happy. I was aiming to win the gold but the gold winner was better than me today,” the Naib Subedar in the Indian Army said.
He holds national records in the 5,000m, 10,000m, one mile and half marathon.
In 2025, he became the first Indian to run a sub-four-minute mile, clocking 3:55.63, and the first Indian to complete a half marathon in under 60 minutes with a time of 59:42.
He also became the first Asian athlete to break the 13-minute barrier in the indoor 5,000m, recording 12:59.77.
For Manpreet, who began her career in 2006, it was her first major medal, having finished fifth in the last edition in China.
She sent the iron ball to 17.17m to win the bronze, finishing behind China’s Song Jiayuan (19.40m) and Zhang Linru (18.14m). (PTI)
