Parul Choudhary claims gold in 5000m at the Asian Games

HANGZHOU: Parul Choudhary came up with her best in the last 50 metres, finding ounces of energy inside her body as she surged past Japan’s Ririka Hironaka to win India’s first gold medal in women’s 5000m at the Asian Games on Tuesday.

Parul was sixth midway through the race and then pulled ahead getting past one competitor at a time and finally surged past the Japanese opponent in the last 10 metres to take the gold medal in a timing of 15:14.75.

Japan’s Ririka Hironaka finished second in 15:15.34 while Kazakhstan’s Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui took the bronze medal in 15:25.12, her season’s best effort. India’s Ankita finished fifth in 15:33.03, which is her personal best at this distance.

Even though it was not Parul Choudhary’s best effort as she has a personal best of 15:10.69, she was still happy because this was her second race in two days. Parul had bagged a silver medal in the Women’s 3000m race on Monday.

“I was a bit disappointed after missing gold in the 3000m steeplechase last evening. When I returned to the village, I could not sleep for long as I kept thinking about the steeplechase. Then I decided that I would give my all in the 5000m,” said Parul. IANS

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