Nagoya, Sep 25 Baranica Elangovan entered her name in the record books by winning a historic bronze medal for India in the women’s pole vault event at the Asian Games here on Friday.
It was joint bronze medal for the 29-year-old Baranica along with Kazakhstan’s Polina Ivanova as they remained tied, with a best clearance of 4.15m each and the same number of failures at 4.25m.
It is India’s first-ever medal in pole vault event.
Misaki Morota of Japan won the gold with a personal best effort of 4.55m while China’s Chunge Niu bagged the silver with 4.50m.
Baranica’s effort was below her personal best of 4.23m but good enough to secure a podium finish.
In March this year, Baranica cleared 4.22m at the National Indoor Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, setting a new national record. She improved her own record to 4.23m at the Indian Indoor Open Combined Events and Pole Vault competition in May.
She also won gold at the this year’s 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships with an effort of 4.20m.
The pole vaulter from Tamil Nadu had suffered an ACL injury in 2020 and went through a challenging period of rehabilitation, after which she moved to the Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar in 2023.
(PTI News)
