Sunil Kumar Wins India’s First Gold in Decathlon at Junior Asian Championships

The Junior Asian Athletics Championship is an under 20 athletics competition. The competition has 44 events in which athletes of both genders can participate. The 2023 Junior Asian Athletics Championship was held between June 4 to 7, at the Yecheon Stadium in Yecheon South Korea. This was the 20th edition of the Competition.  

In the Men’s Decathlon event of the Asian U-20 Championships, Sunil Kumar, an 18 year old athlete from India, won the gold medal with 7,003 points. With this accomplishment, he became the first Indian to win a gold medal in Decathlon at the Young Asian Athletics Championship. 

The Decathlon event is an all-round athletics test. It goes on for two days during which 10 events are played. On the first day the events played are: 100 meter, 400 meter, high jump, short put, and long jump. The events scheduled for the second day are 110 meters and 1500 meters, javelin throw, pole vault and discus. The winner of the Decathlon event is determined by the performance in each of the 10 events over the course of two days. 

Sunil Kumar won the javelin and discus throw and the 100 meter hurdles. Despite having to use a borrowed pole for pole vault, Sunil Kumar put up an impressive performance and returned to India after making history.