Kiran Baliyan gets bronze in shot put, opens India's account in track and field events at Hangzhou Asian Games
Sep 29, 2023
Hangzhou [China], September 29 : Kiran Baliyan on Friday clinched a bronze medal in the women's shot put, winning the first track and field honour for the country at the Asian Games.
Kiran's best throw of 17.36m came in her third attempt.
China dominated the podium standings with Lijiao Gong and Jiayuan Song winning the gold and silver medals, with scores of 19.58m and 18.92m respectively.
India's Manpreet Kaur failed to get a podium finish as she ended in the 5th spot with a distance of 16.25m.
India’s Tanya Chaudhary and Rachna Kumari finished seventh and ninth respectively in the final of the women’s hammer throw.
Tanya threw to a distance of 60.50m while Rachna managed 58.13m. China’s Zheng Wang and Jie Zhao won gold and silver respectively while Taehui Kim won bronze for South Korea.
Zheng Wang registered a throw of 71.53m while Jie Zhao clinched the second spot with a throw of 69.44m.
Earlier in the day, India’s Muhammad Ajmal Variyathodi qualified for the final of the men’s 400m after finishing second in Heat 2 with a time of 45.76s. Ajmal will be back in action for the medal on Saturday.
Muhammad Anas Yahiya finished third in Heat 1 with a time of 46.29s and could not qualify for the final.