U-18 Indian athlete Nitin Gupta was well on course to win the gold medal in the boys’ 5,000m racewalk final at the U-18 Asian Championships in Saudi Arabia but the lost the medal to an early celebration finishing second and winning the silver medal.
The athletes from Uttar Pradesh was comfortably leading in the last 50m of the race with China’s Zhu Ninghao at the second place. However, Nitin decided to celebrate in the last stretch losing microseconds and Ninghao took him over to win the gold medal.
Ninghao clocked 20:21.50s to clinch the gold medal while Nitin finished second just by a microsecond clocking 20:21.51s.
Nitin’s silver is India’s first medal at the current edition of the Asian U18 Athletics Championships.
WATCH: Nitin Gupta loses gold due to early celebration
🚨 Nitin Gupta wins India’s 1st medal at U-18 Asian Athletics Championships 2025! 🇮🇳🥈
The youngster from Uttar Pradesh bags silver in the 5km Racewalk, clocking 20:21.51s — missing gold by just 0.01s in a nail-biting finish against China’s Zhu Ninghao! 🔥
Nitin recently… pic.twitter.com/GW52xeueGa
— nnis Sports (@nnis_sports) April 16, 2025
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The 17-year-old athlete holds the current U20 World lead in the 5,000m rackwalk with a timing of 19:24.48s. He registered the timing at the National Youth Athletics Championship in Patna, Bihar shattering the U20 and U18 national records.
Among other Indian athletes in action, Aarti clocked 11.85s in the girls’ 100m heat to finish second and record a new personal best. She also qualified for the final with second fastest time across heats just behind China’s Zhang Qian (11.75s).
She will feature in the final of girls’ 100m event later in the today.
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In the girls’ 400m heats, Edwina Jason clocked 56.96s to qualify for the final. With a personal best of 55.86s, she has a chance to win a medal later in the final.
