India had an eventful opening day in the Asian Games invitational athletics test event by winning two gold, three silver and three bronze in Jakarta. Javelin thrower Davinder Singh Kang and 400m runner Sonia Baishya won the gold. stamped Indian dominance in the event at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium.
Davinder Kang, a finalist at the 2017 World Championships in London, recorded a best effort of 75.87m to finish ahead of Ranasinghe Denagamage of Sri Lanka. who had a best effort of 75.39m. Kang, who is recently training under former world record holder Uwe Hohn, is preparing for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. He seemed to be in good touch while going past Denagamage though trailing behind him at first.
18-year-old Sachin Silwal won bronze for India in the same event with a best effort of 68.12m.
Sonia Baishya won a gold in the women’s 400m. 22-year old Baishya clocked 53.53 seconds to beat teammate Nithya Shree Ananda who clocked 54.34 seconds. Baishya bettered her previous best by 0.45 seconds.
