Baranica Elangovan Wins India's First Pole Vault Medal, Manpreet Kaur Adds Shot Put Bronze

Baranica Elangovan won India's first-ever Asian Games medal in pole vault, clearing 4.15m for a share of bronze in the women's final in Nagoya, while Manpreet Kaur added another medal with bronze in the women's shot put on the same day.

Baranica finished level with Kazakhstan's Polina Ivanova at 4.15m, with both athletes failing their attempts at 4.25m and sharing the bronze. Japan's Misaki Morota won gold with a personal-best 4.55m, and China's Chunge Niu took silver with 4.50m. The 29-year-old, who returned from a serious ACL injury on her take-off leg in 2020, has had a breakthrough 2026 season after moving her training base from Chennai to Bhubaneswar, twice breaking the national record this year.

In the shot put, Manpreet Kaur produced a best throw of 17.17m in her fourth attempt to take bronze, with compatriot Krishna Jayasankar Menon finishing fifth with 16.57m. China's Jiayuan Song and Linru Zhang took gold and silver respectively.