 |
| Joseph Ganapathiplackal Abraham of India celebrates on the podium during the award ceremony for the men's 400m hurdles in the athletics competition at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou on November 25, 2010. Joseph Ganapathiplackal Abraham of India won gold, Bandar Yahya Sharahili of Saudi Arabia won silver and Naohiro Kawakita of Japan took bronze. |
Full name-Joseph Ganapathyplackal. Abraham
Nationality- India
Date of birth-September 11, 1981 (age 29)
Place of birth-Kottayam, Kerala, India
Sport
Country-India
Sport-Running
Event(s)-400 metre hurdles, 400 metres
Joseph and Ashwini raced to glory on an action-packed evening to give India a golden double in a single athletics for the first since 1978 Bangkok Asian Games when the county had won both 800m men's and women's gold medals.
Striding smoothly over the low hurdles, long-legged Ashwini stepped on the gas on the final straight to clinch the gold with a personal best of 56.15secs, clipping 0.28secs off her own previous high of 56.43 which she clocked in the qualifying heats.
Ashwini's victory is significant as she had started concentrated on hurdles just recently.
Just a few minutes after Ashwini's triumph, the 29-year-old Joseph, hailing from Kottayam district in Kerala, made it a historic 400m hurdles golden double by edging past his other rivals in a very tight finish.
Joseph, who cleverly dipped his face in the end to cross the finish line, won the gold in a season's best of 49.96secs.
Bandar Yahya Sharahili of Saudi Arabia, who crossed the finish line third, got the silver in 50.29 after Japan's defending champion Kenji Narisako was disqualified for a technical infringement.