India continued its impressive run at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025 in Gumi, South Korea, with young talents delivering standout performances on Day 4 of the event. The nation added three more gold medals to its tally, bringing the total to 18 and securing a strong second position on the medal table behind China.
The most remarkable moment came from 18-year-old Pooja, who soared to gold in the women’s high jump with a personal best of 1.89 meters. It marked India’s first gold in this event at the Asian level since 2000. Pooja cleared the winning height on her very first attempt, showing resilience after two initial failed efforts at 1.83m and 1.86m. She then attempted a national record height of 1.92m but missed narrowly. Her emotional celebration captured the magnitude of the moment for the teenager from a modest background, where her father Hansraj works as a construction laborer.
Pooja, who began her sports journey in gymnastics before shifting to high jump under Coach Balwan Singh, previously grabbed headlines after winning gold at the Asian U18 Championships in Tashkent. Tejaswin Shankar, silver medalist in decathlon at the same meet, hailed her achievement as the finest Indian performance of the tournament.
In track events, national record holder Gulveer Singh delivered another stunning performance to complete a rare golden double. He clocked 13:24.77 to win the men’s 5000 meters, setting a new championship record and narrowly defeating Thailand’s Kieran Tuntivate and Japan’s Nagiya Mori. Earlier, Gulveer had opened India’s gold tally on Day 1 by clinching the 10,000m gold.
With this double triumph, Gulveer joined the elite league of Indian runners like G Lakshmanan (2017), Gopal Saini (1981), and Bahadur Prasad (1993) who have claimed victory in the 5000m at the Asian level. His performance also broke the previous meet record set by Qatar’s Mohamed Al-Garni in 2015, cementing his place among the continent’s distance-running greats. India’s growing medal tally and the emergence of young champions like Pooja and Gulveer mark a significant stride forward for the nation in Asian track and field competition.
