Asian Athletics: Sudha claims gold to swell India's lead

Bhubaneswar: Sudha Singh clinched the gold medal in women’s 3,000m steeplechase event to swell table-topping India’s medals tally on the third and penultimate day at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships here on Saturday.

The Uttar Pradesh athlete won the race in 9 minute 59.47 seconds to grab the first gold of the day for India in front of a packed crowd at the Kalinga Stadium.

Sudha, who had also won the silver in 2009, 2011 and 2013 editions of the event, was a gold medal contender in the absence of compatriot Lalita Babar, who skipped the event after her recent marriage, and Bahrain’s world and Asian record holder Ruth Jebet.

The 31-year-old led from the very beginning and after running along with the other five competitors for a while, broke away around the halfway mark to win.

It was a creditable sub-10 minutes victory for Sudha after being away from training for several months, suffering from swine flu on her return from the Rio Olympics last year.

North Korea’s 18-year-old Hyo Gyong was a distant second in 10:13.94 while Japan’s Nana Sato took the bronze in 10:18.11.

“I am very happy to win this gold. This is my first  top level competition after Rio. I was down with swine flu for five-six months and started training slowly and steadily. So, this win is special. It is a slow timing but the conditions are not that good,” she said.

Asked about next month’s World Championships for which she has qualified after Saturday’s win, she said, “It is a big challenge for me. I want to do well there and I want to break the national record.”

In men’s 3000m steeplechase, Naveen Kumar, a bronze medallist in the 2014 Asian Games, finished seventh at 9:02.95, a rung above Durga Das Budha (9:04.05).

In men’s 110m hurdles, Siddharth Thingalaya finished fifth at 13.72 seconds. Kuwait won both the gold and silver with Abdulazia Al-Mandeel and Yaqoub Al-Youha clocking 13.50 and 13.59 respectively.

India’s have seven gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze after Sudha’s win.