The 10th day of Asian Games 2026 was very special for India. On one hand, fast runner Vitya won bronze for India, while on the other hand, India's Gulveer Singh won the second silver medal. This time he has done this feat in the 15000 meter race. Gulveer has already won a silver medal for India in the 10 thousand meter race. He comes from an ordinary farmer family.
India's Gulveer Singh won the silver medal in the men's 1500 meter final of the ongoing Asian Games in Nagoya on Monday. He completed this distance in 3 minutes 36.72 seconds, which is his best performance till date. This is his second medal in these games.
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How did Gulveer get the second silver?
Kazuto Iizawa of Japan won the gold medal with a timing of 3 minutes 36.35 seconds. This is also a new record for the Asian Games. Gulveer was 0.37 seconds behind him. The tables turned in the last round of the race. Gulveer was ahead for most of the race but missed the mark by just 0.37 seconds.
In the last round, Iizawa increased the pace and left him behind and took the first position. The bronze medal went to another Japanese runner Nagia Mori. He achieved this feat in 3 minutes 37.92 seconds.
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Won first silver in 10 thousand meter race
Gulveer has also previously won a silver medal in the men's 10,000 meters event in the Asian Games. He won that race in 28 minutes 29.38 seconds. Gold went to Bahrain's Birhanu Balev, who completed the race in 28 minutes 27.51 seconds.
Who is Gulveer Singh?
Gulveer was born on 1 June 1998 in Sirsa, Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh. He comes from a farmer family. There is a tradition of joining the army in his village. He has told that earlier the race was only a means for him to join the army. He did not know much about the Asian Games or the Commonwealth Games.
In the year 2018, he joined the Indian Army through sports quota and was posted in the Grenadiers. He learned the nuances of competitive racing only after joining the army. It took him four years to win his first senior medal. In the year 2022, he won bronze in 10,000 meters in the Federation Cup in Calicut.
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How did Gulveer Singh achieve success?
In the year 2024, he started training with coach Scott Simmons in Colorado Springs, USA. After this he broke many national records in 3000, 5000 and 10,000 meters. In the year 2025, he made a national record of 27 minutes 0.22 seconds in 10,000 meters. In the same year, he won gold in both 5000 and 10,000 meters at the Asian Athletics Championships.
This year at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games he won silver in 10,000 meters and bronze in 5000 meters. He is the first Indian track and field athlete to win two individual medals in the same Commonwealth Games. In the same year, in the New York City Half Marathon, he achieved a time of 59 minutes 42 seconds. He is the first Indian to complete the half marathon in less than an hour.