India win four medals in athletics, hold on to fifth spot at Asian Youth Games
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Riffa (PTI): India's athletics contingent ensured a steady flow of medals, grabbing four podium finishes including two silver through Edwina Jason and Oshin, to maintain the country's fifth position at the ongoing Asian Youth Games, here on Friday.
With two silver and two bronze from the track and field events, India's overall tally rose to two gold, five silver and eight bronze medals (2-5-8) at the continental event.
In the girls' 400m final, Edwina Jason clocked 55.43 seconds to clinch the silver medal, finishing 1.17 seconds behind Aisha Tariq of the UAE, who took gold. Wu Chia-Ying of Chinese Taipei claimed the bronze in 56.60 seconds.
In the girls' discus throw, Oshin added another silver for India with a best effort of 43.38m. Xinyi Wang of China dominated the event with a throw of 55.38m to win gold, while Shih Yuh-Jhen of Chinese Taipei settled for bronze with 43.00m.
Palash Mandal secured a bronze medal in the 5000m walk to open India's account in athletics on the day. He clocked 24:48.92s.
The event was dominated by China, with Haoze Zhang (21:43.82s) and Yujie Lu (22:28.64s) taking the gold and silver medals respectively.
Zubin Gohain added another bronze medal for India in the boys' high jump, clearing 2.03m on his second attempt after a smooth progression through 1.85m, 1.89m, 1.93m, 1.97m, 1.99m and 2.01m.
The 15-year-old Assam jumper showed fine consistency before faltering at 2.05m, which he failed to clear in all three attempts.
Kai-Lun Huang of Chinese Taipei went on to win the gold after scaling 2.05m, while Bi Zaoxin of China took the silver, having cleared 2.03m on his very first attempt.
Gohain, who needed two tries to get over the same height, had to settle for bronze on countback.
Himanshu Kumar Singh, who also cleared 2.03m, missed out on a medal as he needed three attempts to achieve the height.
In the boys' javelin throw, India's Prince narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth with a throw of 61.92m.
Jayathissa Chathura Dulnjana of Sri Lanka took the bronze with 62.51m, while Wu Huaichu of China (68.38m) and Qiu Bang-Xuan of Chinese Taipei (64.91m) won the gold and silver respectively.
China continued to dominate the medals table with 31 medals -- 13 gold, 13 silver and five bronze (13-13-5), followed by Thailand (7-2-3), Uzbekistan (6-3-4) and Iran (3-5-7).
Kazakhstan are a fair distance behind India with 11 medals, including two gold and two silver.
Athletes from 45 national federations are competing for 1,677 medals -- including 505 gold, 503 silver and 669 bronze -- across 21 sports at the ongoing Games, which conclude on October 27.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
