P U Chitra successfully defended her 1500m title to give India its third gold medal. Let’s take a moment to appreciate PU Chitra! Meanwhile, Ajay Kumar Saroj and Dutee Chand won a silver and a bronze in men’s 1500m and women’s 200m respectively on the fourth and final day of the Asian Athletics Championships on Wednesday.
Chitra surpassed Bahraini runner Tigest Gashaw only a few metres before the victory line to clinch the race in 4 minute 14.56 seconds at the Khalifa Stadium.
Interestingly, this was India’s third gold of the championships after Gomathi Marimuthu (category: women’s 800m) and Tejinder Pal Singh Toor (category: men’s shot put) won a gold medal apiece on the second day on Monday.
“Got a little nervous towards the end being next to Bahraini runner (Gashaw Tigest). She beat me to third place in Asian Games. I had to really push hard in the end,” said elated Chita after defending the title.
The 23-year-old Chitra had also won a bronze in the Jakarta Asian Games and won a yello metal in the 2017 edition in Bhubaneswar in 4:17.92.
With Inputs From PTI.