Couldn’t believe I had won a medal, says Baranica

Baranica Elangovan won a historic first-ever bronze in pole vault at the Asian Games, but as long as it took for the event to finally conclude as Misaki Morota tried to cross the 4.61m mark, it took longer for the Indian to accept she had actually won a medal.

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“The other Indian pole vaulter, Sindhushree, told me I had won bronze, but I did not believe her. I kept checking again and again and again. Even when my coach Milber Bertrand Russell told me to look up at the big screen for the official confirmation, I was not sure, I wanted him to confirm from the officials. It is so surreal that I don’t think I will believe it till I actually get it in my hands,” a dazed but elated Baranica admitted.

Baranica’s medal came soon after Gulveer Singh, the man who runs like a machine and with as much consistency, improved on his bronze medal from Hangzhou 2023 with a silver in the 10,000m. With two more events he’s entered in, Gulveer was desperate to slip out for rest and recovery. Not surprisingly, he was more than satisfied with the medal. “I have no fixed target in terms of the timings because then I will get stuck on that. Only target is to win medals and keep improving,” an exhausted Gulveer said.

Shot-putter Manpreet Kaur, meanwhile, insisted there was more to come. “There is more to be done; I can get a lot better. But I am still learning a lot of new things under coach Parveer Singh in terms of technique, strength and throwing angles. He kept guiding me even today, suggesting changes that helped me get better,” she said.