Tejaswin Shankar wins bronze in men's decathlon at Asian Games
What's the story
Tejaswin Shankar has won a bronze medal in the decathlon at the ongoing Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. The Indian athlete scored a total of 7,934 points to secure his place on the podium. Japan's Yuma Maruyama took home the gold with an impressive score of 8,123 points while China's Chen Xinghua clinched silver with a score of 8,012 points.
Performance breakdown
Shankar starts strong before dropping down the rankings
Shankar had a strong start in the decathlon, leading the standings with 5,270 points before the discus throw.
He earned 932 points by finishing third in the 110m hurdles heat with a time of 14.33 seconds.
However, his best discus throw was just 36.77 meters, nearly four meters short of his personal best, which saw him drop down the rankings as athletes from China and Japan overtook him.
Final hurdles
Challenges in last 2 events, but Shankar makes history
The last two events of the decathlon were pole vault and javelin throw, both of which are not Shankar's strongest suits. This made it even more difficult for him to reclaim his silver medal.
Despite these challenges, Shankar's performance has made him the first Indian man to win two medals in this grueling discipline at the Asian Games, as per IANS.
Athletics results
Other notable results from athletics and surfing events
In other athletics events, Manju Rani finished sixth in the women's marathon race walk with a time of 3:40:17. Priyanka Goswami was disqualified at the 9km mark.
In surfing, Sivaraj Babu advanced to the third round of men's shortboard after defeating Iran's Davoud Khadir with a score of 8.96. He will be joined by fellow Indian Kishore Kumar in the next round.