Report by Prashasti Kulkarni
The Asian Athletics Championships, 2023 took place from July 12th to 16th in Bangkok, Thailand.
The mascot of the championships this year was Lord Hanuman, as announced by Thailand prior to the event. Hanuman, a revered deity of Hindu mythology, is said to have incredible abilities that include speed, strength, loyalty, and wisdom. The Asian Athletics Association believes these qualities to be present in every athlete, in the form of dedication and teamwork, hence the mascot choice.
This year’s championship celebrated 50 years since the forming of the Asian Athletics Association, marking its golden jubilee year (50th year).
The championships consisted of many standard games you may see in the Olympics, like hurdle races and long jump. A full list of the games included in the event is displayed on the official website.
India won 27 medals in total, with 6 gold, 12 silver and 9 bronze. It stood third on the medals tally. 17 countries participated in the championship.
Below mentioned are the participants who have won these medals:
Gold
- Jyothi Yarraji- Women’s 100m hurdles
- Abdulla Aboobacker- Men’s triple jump
- Parul Chaudhary- Women’s 300m steeplechase
- Ajay Kumar Saroj- Men’s 1500m
- Tajinderpal Singh Toor- Men’s shot put
- Rajesh Ramesh, Aishwarya Kailash Mishra, Amoj Jacob, Subha Venkatesan- Mixed 4x400m relay team
Silver
- Shaili Singh- Women’s long jump
- Anil Sarvesh Kushare- Men’s high jump
- Murali Sreeshankar- Men’s long jump
- Swapna Barman- Heptathlon
- Priyanka Goswami- Women’s 20km race walk
- Chanda- Women’s 800m
- Parul Chaudhary- Women’s 5000m
- Krishan Kumar- Men’s 800m
- Abha Khatua- Women’s shot put
- DP Manu- Men’s Javelin throw
- Jyothi Yarraji- Women’s 200m
- Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal, Mijo Chacko Kurian, Rajesh Ramesh- Mixed 4x400m relay
Bronze
- Abhishek Pal- Men’s 10000m
- Aishwarya Kailash Mishra- Women’s 400m
- Tejaswin Shankar- Men’s decathlon
- Tamilarasan Santosh Kumar- Men’s 400m hurdles
- Vikash Singh- Men’s 20km race walk
- Ankita- Women’s 5000m
- Manpreet Kaur- Women’s shot put
- Gulveer Singh- Men’s 5000m
- Rezoana Mallick Heena, Aishwarya Kailash Mishra, Jyothika Sri Dandi, Subha Venkatesan- Women’s 4x400m relay
The table below shows the countries that participated in the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 along with their ranking and medal tallies.
| Rank | Country | Gold medals | Silver medals | Bronze medals | Total |
| 1 | Japan | 16 | 11 | 10 | 37 |
| 2 | China | 8 | 8 | 6 | 22 |
| 3 | India | 6 | 12 | 9 | 27 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 5 | Qatar | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Philippines | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Singapore | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Kazakhstan | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Uzbekistan | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | Thailand | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 11 | Chinese Taipei | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | South Korea | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 13 | Vietnam | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 | Iran | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 14 | Saudi Arabia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 16 | Kuwait | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 17 | Malaysia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | Mongolia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | Pakistan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Japan won the most medals at 37, China and India following at 22 and 27 respectively. Despite having won lesser medals than India, China stands at a higher rank as they won more gold medals.
About the Asian Athletics Association
The Asian Athletics Association was formed 50 years ago in 1973. However, this year marks the 25th edition of the championships. This is because the Asian Athletics Championships held between 1979 and 1989 were regarded as unofficial due to political controversy. Apart from this, there have been a few other times where championships were postponed or canceled, the most recent example being in 2021, when they were canceled due to the Covid pandemic.
Members of the Asian Athletics Association include Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, DPR of Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea), Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizistan, South Korea, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, China, Qatar, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor Leste, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
All images from event website and SAI media.