Rajiv Arokia Wins Gold in Men’s 400m at Asian Grand Prix Games
Rajiv Arokia won bronze medal for India in the men’s 400m to become the latest medal winner for India in the 17th Incheon Asian Games after he won bronze medal in the men’s 400m race on Sunday. The 26-year old became the 34th medallist and 24 bronze winner for Indian in Asian Games 2014. Rajiv Arokia had rose to fame after his gold medal in the Asian Grand Prix in 2009. Rajiv Arokia has clinched the first final of the men’s 400m category in the second leg of the Asian Gran Prix Games being played in Pathumthani, Thailand.
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The 24-year-old Trichy-born athlete ran the best race of his career, finishing with a timing of 45.85 seconds, 0.13 seconds ahead of Iran’s Sajjad Hashemiahangari who clinched the silver medal. Zhu Chenbin of China won bronze with a timing of 46.07 seconds.
This is now Arokia’s second consecutive medal in the competition, following his silver medal in the first leg that was held in Bangkok on Monday. However, he will probably find the Gold medal win slightly bitter-sweet as he couldn’t finish either within the Olympic qualification mark (45.40 seconds) or the World Championships mark (45.50 seconds)
Earlier in the day, India’s hopes of getting a medal upgrade in the women’s 3000m steeplechase were dashed today after Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet was reinstated as the gold-winner following a review, a decision which the Indian contingent plans to challenge in front of “higher authorities”. The 17-year-old Kenya-born Jebet was reinstated a day after being led away in tears from the medal ceremony where it had been announced that she stood disqualified for stepping inside the track on her second last lap due to a stumble.
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Her disqualification, had it stayed, would have given the Indian medal tally a boost as bronze-winner Lalita Babar and fourth-placed Sudha Singh would have been upgraded. India also stepped up its rankings in medals tally after Commonwealth Games winner Yogeshwar Dutt won gold in Men’s Freestyle 65 kg at Asian Games as well.