Tejaswin Shankar broke the heptathlon national record on way to winning India’s only gold medal at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2026, which concluded in Tianjin, the People’s Republic of China, on Sunday.
The Indian athlete, who led the field with 3513 points heading into the final day of competition, eventually topped the podium with a tally of 5993 points. Tejaswin Shankar’s gold-winning performance also saw him better his own national record of 5650 points set in 2021 in the USA.
He also brought an end to India’s 16-year wait for a medal in heptathlon at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. PJ Vinod was the last Indian to win a medal in the event at the continental showpiece, having clinched bronze in 2010.
Tejaswin Shankar’s total points at the tournament was also a championship record and saw him register the second-best score ever by an Asian. Olympic bronze medallist Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan holds the Asian record of 6000 points in heptathlon.
Shankar also holds the outdoor national records in decathlon and men’s high jump.
Meanwhile, Olympian Tajinderpal Singh Toor secured silver in the men’s shot put event after recording a season’s best effort of 20.05m on his fourth attempt. He narrowly missed out on gold after Chen Chengyu of China produced a 20.07m effort on his last attempt. Chengyu’s compatriot Xing Jialiang finished third with 19.99m.
Samardeep Gill, the other Indian in the men’s shot event, finished fifth with a best effort of 18.97 on his last attempt.
Teenager Pooja also broke an indoor national record to secure silver in the women’s high jump event on Sunday. The Indian cleared 1.87m on her first attempt to finish tied alongside former Asian indoor champion Nadezhda Dubovitskaya of Kazakhstan, with the duo sharing second place after both were unsuccessful at the 1.90m mark.
Valeriya Gorbatova of Uzbekistan took gold, having also cleared 1.87m. She ranked first on countback after clearing 1.84m on her first attempt, while Pooja and Dubovitskaya breached the same mark with their third efforts.
Elsewhere, Asian Games silver medallist Ancy Sojan bagged bronze in the women’s long jump event. Sojan, who also claimed silver at the Asian Athletics Championships last year, finished third with a best jump of 6.21m on her fifth attempt.
Asian Games champion Xiong Shiqi of China claimed top spot with a 6.42m leap, while her compatriot Li Zhishuang secured silver after jumping 6.39m.
The four medals on Sunday saw India finish sixth overall with five medals in total – one gold, two bronze and two silver.
Earlier, J Aadarsh Ram had opened India’s medal account at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2026 with a bronze in the men’s high jump event.
India medal winners list: Tejaswin Shankar (heptathlon) gold; Tajinderpal Singh Toor (men’s shot put) silver; Pooja (women’s high jump) silver; Ancy Sojan (women’s long jump) bronze; J Aadarsh Ram (men’s high jump) bronze.
