Sawan Barwal Ends India's 44-Year Wait for Marathon Medal With Silver

Sawan Barwal ended India's 44-year wait for an Asian Games men's marathon medal, winning silver in Nagoya with a national record of 2:11:37 that also made him the first Indian man to win the medal outside home soil.

Barwal led for large stretches of the race, moving to the front by the 10km mark and reaching 35km in 1:49:29 after briefly slipping to second at 30km. Japan's Ichitaka Yamashita made his decisive move over the closing stretch to win gold in 2:10:49, with China's Peiyou Feng taking bronze in 2:12:13, 36 seconds behind Barwal. The 28-year-old improved his own national record by 21 seconds, having set the previous mark of 2:11:58 at the Rotterdam Marathon in April.

India's last men's marathon medal at the Asian Games came from Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan's bronze in 1982; the country's only two other medals in the event, in 1951, were also won at home in New Delhi. In the women's race, Bahrain's Shitaye Habte won gold, with China taking silver and Japan's Mikuni Yada claiming bronze.