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Whats' the story?
The Asian Games Invitational Tournament took off on February 11th in Jakarta. Acting as a test event for the upcoming Asian Games later in the year, this competition saw the Indian athletes at their top-notch game.
Clinching gold, silver and bronze medals, the Indians gave us a possible trailer of their future performance at the main event.
Javelin thrower Devinder Singh Kang and sprinter Sonia Baishya bagged the gold medals for India on Day 1.
In case you didn't know...
The Asian Games, also known as the Jakarta Palembang 2018 is set to take place between August 18 and September 2 in Indonesia. A Pan-Asian multi-sport event, the games are scheduled to be held at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium at Jakarta.
The heart of the matter
Devinder Singh Kang clinched a gold medal for India after beating Sri Lanka's Ranasinghe Denagamage. A finalist of the 2017 World Championship in London, this was his first event of the season. He achieved his feat with a record of 75.87m.
Bagging the second gold was Sonia Baishya, running a quarter mile in a span of 53.53 seconds, her personal best, in the women's 400m. She beat her teammate Nithya Shree Ananda in the event.
The Indian athletes also brought home 3 silvers, out of which, Jithu Baby put up a commendable performance in the men's 400m clocking a record of 46.88 seconds. He was a gold medalist at the National Open Championships last year and on Sunday, he beat Sri Lanka's Pattiya Mullewaththe to bag the silver.
V Neena and Nayana James clinched the other two silver medals in the long jump event for women. Considered the best after Anju Bobby George, Neena finished with a leap of 6.42m, while James managed a 6.16m jump.
The bronze medal was claimed by Elakiyadasan Kannadasan who despite his bad start and slow reaction time, managed to clock a personal best of 10.30 seconds. This was the 22-year-old's first outdoor competition.
What's next?
The Asian Games are a few months away and here's hoping the Indian athletes keep up their quality performances in the main event as well.
Author's take
Despite this being just a test event for the upcoming Asian Games in August, the Indian athletes have proved that their performances will be those to watch out for.
