Indian Athletes Prepare for Multiple Medal Events at the Asian Games Finals

Indian athletes are set to compete in several athletics medal events at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games on September 28. Defending champion Avinash Sable returns for the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase after recovering from a knee injury, while Murali Sreeshankar and David Patturaj Solomon contest the men’s long jump final. In distance events, Parul Chaudhary—winner of the 2022 Asian Games women’s 5,000 meters—and Seema Kumari, fresh off a 10,000-meter bronze, line up for the 5,000-meter final. India’s women’s 4x100-meter relay quartet of Abinaya Rajarajan, Tamanna, Sneha Sathyanarayana and Sudeshna Shivankar also seeks a medal after the team placed second at the 2026 Asian Relays Championships.
Avinash Sable is scheduled to start the steeplechase final in Lane 3. Japan’s Ryuji Miura has the field’s fastest personal best at 8:03.43, ahead of Sable’s 8:09.91; the final is scheduled for around 4:17 p.m. IST.
Seema Kumari’s 10,000-meter bronze in 32:50.05 was India’s first Asian Games medal in that event since 2010. She is assigned Lane 1 for the 5,000-meter final, while Parul Chaudhary is in Lane 5.
Parul Chaudhary’s 2023 5,000-meter gold came less than 24 hours after her 3,000-meter steeplechase silver, making her the first athlete in Asian Games history to win medals in both the women’s steeplechase and 5,000 meters.
The relay quartet’s 43.85-second runner-up performance at the 2026 Asian Relays featured Srabani Nanda rather than Abinaya Rajarajan; Abinaya replaced Nanda in the Asian Games lineup and had a 100-meter personal best of 11.31 seconds that September.
Murali Sreeshankar and David Patturaj Solomon reached the long jump final with qualification marks of 7.84 meters and 7.62 meters, respectively. Their listed personal bests are 8.41 meters for Sreeshankar and 8.22 meters for Solomon.
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