Asian Athletics Championships 2017 Overview – India finish on top in medals tally

 The 2017 Asian Athletics Championships was the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 6 to 9 July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India. Bhubaneswar was the third Indian city to host Asian Championships. Around 800 athletes from 45 countries attended the event.

The Asian Athletics Championships are organized by Asian Athletics Association every two years.

• The mascot  of Championship was Olly, the Olive Ridley sea turtle.
• India ended the four-day championship on top with their highest ever medal haul of 29 medals (12 gold, 5 silver and 12 bronze) ,India’s best came way back in the 1985 Jakarta edition where they had won 22 medals.
• This time India created history by topping medal tally at Asian Athletics.
• The gold medal winners will get automatic berth for the World Championships to be held in London in August 2017.
• This is the best performance by Indian athletes at the Asian Championships so far. Their previous best finish was in the last edition in 2013 at Wuhan, China, where they finished third with 4 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze.
• Neeraj Chopra (men’s javelin), Govindan Laxmanan (men’s 10,000 metres) and Swapna Burman (women’s heptathlon) along with the men’s and women’s teams in the 4x400m relays won gold medals in their respective events.

Medal Chart

 Odisha CM Inaugurated 22nd Asian Athletics Championship

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on 5th July formally inaugurated the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship here at Kalinga Stadium

• Odia athlete Srabani Nanda had the honour of taking the oath on behalf of athletes at the inaugural ceremony.
• Ranchi was to host the biennial continental flagship event but in March they expressed the inability to do so due to financial reasons and then Bhubaneswar agreed to host it.
• The home state of Odisha was represented by sprinters Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, Amiya Kumar Mallick and heptathlete Purnima Hembram.

India win two gold in haul of seven medals on day 1

Shot putter Manpreet Kaur grabbed the gold medal with a throw of 28m on the opening day

• Manpreet also qualified for the World Championships in London being Asian champion
• Long distance runner G Lakhsmanan gave India the second gold with an unexpected win in men’s 5000m race
• V Neena and Nayan James bagged a silver and bronze in women’s long jump while Vikas Gowda, Sanjivini Yadav, Annu Rani added a bronze each in the men’s discus throw, women’s 5000m race and javelin throw respectively.
•  India Athletes Bag Four Golds On Day 2 Of Asian Athletics
• PU Chitra and Ajay Kumar Saroj bagged a yellow metal each in men’s and women’s 1500m race.
• Nirmala Sheoran clinched the yellow metal in women’s 400m, while Mohammed Anas grabbed the gold in men’s 400m.

Asian Athletics Championship Day 3 wrap: Sudha Singh’s gold, four other medals

The 31-year-old Sudha won her race in 9 minute 59.47 seconds to grab the lone gold for India .It was Sudha’s first gold in her fourth attempt in the Asian Championship.

• Sudha, had also won a silver each in the 2009, 2011 and 2013
• Anu Raghavan added a silver in the women’s 400m hurdles, while woman triple jumper NV Sheena, men’s 400m hurdler Jabir MP and the women’s 4x100m relay team grabbed a bronze as India took one gold, one silver and three bronze on the third day.

India bag two gold through unheralded Archana, Barman

Archana Adhav gave India a surprise gold in 800m while heptathlete Swapna Burman  20-year-old of  Bengal in Hepatthalon won gold medal with 5942 point added another yellow metal on the fourth and final day .

• With the win, Archana also qualified for the World Championships to be held in London next month.
• Till recently, Archana was competing at the junior level and she had won a bronze in 800m in Asian Junior Championship in 2014 and she also used to run in 4x400m relay race.
• Jinson Johnson and Purnima Hembram also won a bronze each in the men’s 800m race and women’s heptathlon .