Asian Games: Prachi Choudhary wins bronze, Tajinderpal Singh Toor secures silver

NEW DELHI: India’s medal tally at the Asian Games swelled to 30 on Saturday after Prachi Choudhary won bronze in the women’s 400m final, adding another athletics medal to a productive day for the country. Prachi clocked 53.21 seconds to finish third in the final. Bahrain’s Salwa Naser claimed the gold in a Games Record 49.20 seconds, while Iran’s Zahra Zarei Manoujan took silver with a time of 52.38 seconds. The medal took India’s tally to 30 — four gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze. Kiran Pahal, the other Indian in the final, finished fifth in 53.41 seconds.

Earlier, Tajinderpal Singh Toor added a silver medal in the men’s shot put, ending his bid for a hat-trick of Asian Games gold medals. The defending champion, who won gold at Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022, produced a best throw of 20.64m to finish second. Iran’s Mohammadreza Tayebise won gold with a Games Record 20.81m, bettering Toor’s previous mark of 20.75m set in 2018. Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Tolu took bronze with 20.48m.

Toor said he had been confident of reaching the 21m mark but was disappointed with his performance. The 31-year-old also revealed that minor injuries and the wet conditions had made his campaign difficult. Despite missing out on gold, he was happy to return with a medal.

India also advanced two athletes to the women’s 200m final. Harita Bhadra finished second in her heat in 23.31 seconds, while Unnathi Bolland clocked 23.33 seconds to finish third and qualify. Nandhini Kongan also reached the women’s 100m hurdles final after finishing fourth in her heat in 13.48 seconds. She advanced with a ‘q’ qualification after Jyothi Yarraji, the Hangzhou silver medallist, did not start her heat.