Heptathlete Nandhini Agasara managed to get on to the podium at the Asian Games 2023. The 20-year old athlete finished with an overall total of 5712 points to win the bronze medal in the event. Meanwhile Seema Punia too bagged a bronze medal in the Women’s Discuss Throw. It was the 51st medal for India at Hangzhou.
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Nandhini Agasara finishes ahead of Swapna Barman
Nandini Agasara, won the 800m race with a personal best time of 2:15.33. It was the last of the seven events in heptathlon. The U-20 World Championships finalist also notched personal best scores in the 200m race and javelin throw too.
Meanwhile, the defending champion Swapna Barman suffered a heartbreak in her swansong. The experienced athlete fell just four points to finish fourth at the Asian Games 2023.
The toast of the nation in the last edition, Indian heptathlete Swapna Barman’s one “last shot” at glory at the Asian Games turned into a nightmare as she struggled with injuries to virtually go out of medal reckoning. With her career ravaged by a spinal injury, the six-toed Indian athlete had contemplated retirement last year. But she took one last shot at glory and came to Hanghzou in her title defence bid.
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Seema clinched the bronze medal with a season-best throw of 58.62m in the Discuss Throw. She finished behind China’s Feng Bin (67.93m) and Jiang Zhichao (61.04m).
This is her second successive bronze medal and the third medal overall at the Asian Games. The 40-year-old won gold at the Incheon Games in 2014. In the last edition at Jakarta, she won the bronze.