Asian Games 2023: Vithya Ramraj levels with PT Usha’s national record

Indian athlete Vithya Ramraj tied with PT Usha’s 39-year-old national record as she qualified for the final of women’s 400 m hurdles at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Monday.

Other athletes like Jesse Sandesh, Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath, and Krishnan Kumar also made it to the medal round. 

Asian Games have always held a special place in my heart and the Hangzhou Games are no different.. but it is India, my country, that steals the show first. Reliving my past while having a heart to heart @ future of Indian sports.#IndiaAtAG22 pic.twitter.com/QK8HF8Hou0

— P.T. USHA (@PTUshaOfficial) October 1, 2023

In women’s 400 m hurdles, Vithya finished at the top of her heat one and number two overall with personal best timings of 55.42 seconds to be among the top five athletes to go to the final.

In the second heat, Kaveram Sinchal Ravi finished at fourth and bottom in heat two with timings of 58.62, unable to qualify for the medal round. She also finished tenth overall. 

In the men’s high jump, though Jesse Sandesh and Anil Sarvesh Kushare managed to reach final, none of them could hit a jump of 2.26 m, the automatic qualification mark. Jesse finished sixth in Group A with a jump of 2.10 m while Anil finished fourth in Group B with a jump of 2.10 m. Both athletes managed to earn tenth and eleventh positions to be among the top 12 athletes privileged to earn a medal round qualification. 

🇮🇳 𝗔 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗦! Vithya Ramraj has equaled the National Record (55.42 seconds) set by former track queen PT Usha at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. 𝗪𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘁 𝟰:𝟱𝟬… pic.twitter.com/LIJIL5PCyz

— Team India at the Asian Games 🇮🇳 (@sportwalkmedia) October 2, 2023

The men’s high jump final will start at 4:30 PM IST on Wednesday, October 4.

In the men’s 800 m final, Mohammed Afsal and Krishnan reached the finals. Afsal, who is a South Asian Games silver medallist, clocked 1:46.79 minutes to finish best in his heat and overall. The Asian level silver medalist in the sport, Krishnan finished eighth overall and second best in heat three with a time of 1:49.45 minutes. He was able to be among the top eight athletes to earn the final qualification. 

The men’s 800m final will take tomorrow at 5:55 PM IST. In men’s 400 m hurdles, Santosh Kumar Tamilarasan secured a second-place finish in his heats and overall with timings of 49.28 seconds to reach the final, and Yashas Palaksha clocked 49.61 seconds to finish second in heat three, fourth overall to reach the medal round. 
India has 12 medals in athletics so far, with two gold, five silver and five bronze. 

India’s medal tally has now gone up to 55 medals, comprising 13 gold, 21 silver, and 21 bronze. The athletics events started on September 29 and will go on till October 5.