New Delhi: Tejaswin Shankar delivered a historic performance at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2026 on Sunday, breaking the national heptathlon record and securing India’s sole gold medal at the event.
India concluded the championships sixth overall, with a total of five medals – one gold, two silver, and two bronze. Earlier, J Aadarsh Ram had opened India’s medal tally with a bronze in the men’s high jump event, the olympics.com reported.
Shankar, who led the field with 3,513 points entering the final day, finished on top with a total of 5,993 points, surpassing his own national record of 5,650 points set in 2021 in the US. His victory ended a 16-year wait for an Indian medal in the heptathlon at the Asian Indoor Championships. PJ Vinod was the last Indian to reach the podium in the event, winning bronze in 2010.
Shankar’s tally also set a new championship record and marked the second-highest score ever recorded by an Asian athlete. The continental record of 6,000 points is held by Olympic bronze medallist Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan.
Shankar also holds India’s outdoor national records in decathlon and men’s high jump.
In the men’s shot put, Olympian Tajinderpal Singh Toor claimed silver with a season-best effort of 20.05m on his fourth attempt. He narrowly missed gold after Chen Chengyu of China produced a 20.07m throw on his final attempt, while Chengyu’s compatriot Xing Jialiang secured third with 19.99m. Fellow Indian Samardeep Gill finished fifth, recording 18.97m on his last attempt.
Teenager Pooja continued India’s strong showing in the women’s high jump, breaking the indoor national record to claim silver. She cleared 1.87m on her first attempt, tying with former Asian indoor champion Nadezhda Dubovitskaya of Kazakhstan.
Both athletes failed at 1.90m, with Valeriya Gorbatova of Uzbekistan taking gold after clearing 1.87m and ranking first on countback. Pooja and Dubovitskaya had both cleared 1.84m on their third attempts.
Asian Games silver medallist Ancy Sojan added a bronze in the women’s long jump, finishing third with a best effort of 6.21m on her fifth attempt. Asian Games champion Xiong Shiqi of China won gold with 6.42m, while Li Zhishuang of China claimed silver with 6.39m.
