What a day for Indian athletics. On Day 8 of the Asian Games, India won athletics medals from stars, young sensations and those considered beyond their prime.
In eight athletics final events on Sunday, India won nine medals, including two gold. It started with an athlete showing absolute dominance on the track and ended with high drama on the same track.
While the likes of Avinash Sable and Tajinderpal Singh Toor performed as expected, winning the gold medals, the other Indian athletes also stood up and made it count.
At 40, Seema Punia is still winning big medals
In the women's discus throw, the 40-year-old Punia produced her season's best effort to clinch the bronze with a throw of 58.62m behind two Chinese athletes Feng Bin (gold 67.93) and Jiang Zhichao (silver 61.04).
Punia was not in medal position after the first three throws but then came up with a
This is Punia's third Asian Games medal after her gold in 2014 and bronze in 2018 Jakarta Palembang Games.
Agasara shines on debut
The women's heptathlon saw India's Nandini Agasara winning the bronze medal in a remarkable fashion after she won the final women's 800m event.
The athlete from Telangana scored 5712 points just above previous edition's winner Swapna Barman who finished fourth with 5708 points.
It is quite an achievement for 20-year-old athlete Agasara who defeated senior athletes like Barman in her very first senior international event.
Saroj's late surge to silver
Ajay Kumar Saroj ran a sensational last 200m in the final of the 1500m to win the silver medal with a timing of 3:38.94 while last edition's winner Jinson Johnson claimed the bronze after a timing of 3:39.74.
26-year-old Saroj, the gold medallist at this year's Asian Athletics Championships, was behind in the pack till the last lap but he picked up pace and overtook almost everybody.
Qatar's Mohamad Algarni came up with a season's best effort of 3:38.36 to clinch the gold.
Harmilan impresses, wins first major medal
The women's 1500 final also produced an Indian medallist with Harmilan Bains winning the silver after a timing of 4:12.74.
The 25-year-old Bains, featuring in her first Asian Games, finished behind Bahrain's Winfred Yavi. She holds the national record in the event and this is her first medal at a major competition.
Harmilan's mother Madhuri Singh is also an Asian Games medallist. She won the silver in women's 800m back in 2002 Asian Games in Busan.
Jyothi wins dramatic silver
The women's 100m hurdles final provided high drama and a medal for Jyothi in her first Asiad. Here's what happened.
Sable, Toor, Sreeshankar live up to the expectations
Avinash Sable won the gold medal in the 3000m steeplechase race with a dominating run, clocking 8:19.50 which is also a new Asian Games record.
Sable started as the favourite in steeplechase as his season's best was roughly nine seconds quicker than his nearest competitor Ryomo Aoki of Japan. He set the pace early, took a big lead early which he maintained throughout the race.
By the time he was running the last lap, Sable knew he had done enough to win the gold medal. His last 200 metres was slower by his standards but no harm was done as he started celebrating even before crossing the line.
Also winning the gold in athletics was Toor who defended his shot put title with a throw of 20.36m. He overtook Saudi Arabia's Mohamed Tolo in his sixth and final throw to clinch the gold. Tolo took the silver with his season's best of 20.18.m.
In men's long jump, Sreeshakar Murali won the silver with a best jump of 8.19m narrowly behind China's Wang Jianan whose best effort for the gold was 8.22m. It was not Jeswin Aldrin's day as he finished eighth in the event with a best jump of 7.76m.
For Sreeshankar, it was an agonising wait to see the result of his best jump as officials took time to confirm the legality of the effort. After much deliberation, the officials showed white flag for Sreeshankar which propelled him to second spot.