India win 7 gold at Asian Cross Country in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Oct 20: Indian athletes tamed the picturesque Hong Kong Golf Club course to win seven gold medals, including three in individual categories, at the Asian Cross Country Championships on Sunday.

The elite Indian athletes dominated their season’s first continental cross country and walked away with 11 medals, including three silver and one bronze in the individual category.

India won gold in all four team categories - men, women and men U20 and women U20.

While it was a clean sweep in the men’s individual 10km event, Indian female athletes claimed gold and silver in the individual 10km race but missed out on bronze. Asian Games medallist and national record holder across 5,000m and 10,000m track events Gulveer Singh topped the chart in the men’s 10km race. His gold medal-winning time was 32:43. Abhishek Pal was close second with a time of 32:49, while Arun Rathod finished third with a time of 32:51. India’s Kartik Kumar was fourth. India’s Seema clocked 37:20 to edge past compatriot Sanjivani Jadhav to win gold. Sanjivani, who had an identical time of 37:20, settled for silver.

Results:

Women (10km): Seema 37:20, Sanjivani Jadhav 37:20, He Wuga (China) 38:02.

Women (U20) 6km: Li Yuan (China) 22:59, Shilpaben Veljibhai Dihora (India) 23:04, Fang Yujia (China) 23:05.

Men (10km): Gulveer Singh (India) 32:43, Abhishek Pal (India) 32:49, Arun Rathod (India) 32:51.

Men (U20) 8km: Vinod Singh (India) 26:30, Fu Qiguang (China) 26:33, Yu Shuiquing (China) 26:44.