In the biggest and prestigious platform of continental sports 'Asian Games 2026', India's long distance star athlete Gulveer Singh has created history by showcasing his amazing speed, stamina and mental strength. 28-year-old Indian runner Gulveer Singh won a historic silver medal in the final of the extremely difficult and breath-taking men's 10,000 meter race with a brilliant time of 28 minutes 29.38 seconds (28:29.38). This achievement of Gulveer, who hailed from Atrauli, a small village in Uttar Pradesh, and hoisted the country's flag at the international level, is very special because he had won the bronze medal in the same event in the last edition of the Asian Games. This time he changed the color of his medal from bronze to silver and proved that Indian athletes are capable of giving a tough challenge to the top runners at the international level at every step.
The men's 10,000 meters final saw strategic and technical pace right from the start on the track. In this challenging race of 25 laps, Gulveer Singh kept himself firmly in the group of leading runners and saved his energy for the last moments. The last 400 meter lap of the competition saw a tremendous sprint for the gold medal among the top runners. Bahrain's experienced runner Birhanu Balev won the gold medal in a tough fight by clocking 28 minutes 27.51 seconds (28:27.51). Gulveer Singh lagged behind him by a mere margin of 1.87 seconds and won the silver medal by finishing second. Meanwhile, Albert Kiptu of Bahrain won the bronze medal by finishing third with a time of 28:34.38. The agility shown by Gulveer in the last lap thrilled the entire stadium.
The foundation of this historic success of Gulveer Singh was laid in an ordinary rural farmer family of Uttar Pradesh. He was born on 1 June 1988. Gulveer, who grew up in a rural environment with limited resources, was deeply fond of running since childhood. He honed his physical abilities by practicing on village fields and unpaved paths. Due to his dedication towards sports, he got the opportunity to join the Indian Army under sports quota. After joining the brave 'The Grenadiers' regiment of the army, Gulveer achieved the respected post of Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) with his discipline and dedication. He was then selected for modern and scientific training at the Pune-based Army Sports Institute (ASI), where he became a regular part of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) national training camp. In this high-level training center, he imbibed the nuances of professional running, scientific techniques of pacing, lap timing and recovery.
Gulveer Singh's silver medal is not a fluke, but a result of his consistently brilliant performance on the international athletics scene for the last two years. In the Glasgow Commonwealth Games held this year, Gulveer displayed his unique versatility and achieved a double podium finish by winning a silver medal in the men's 10,000 meters event and a bronze medal in the 5,000 meters event. Apart from this, in the Asian Athletics Championship 2025, he gave a historic performance and proved his superiority in the whole of Asia by winning double gold medal in both 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters events. His consistency on the international track places him in the forefront of India's most promising and world-class long distance athletes.
The silver medal won by Gulveer Singh took India's medal tally to 22 at the Asian Games 2026. Soon after, India's Baranica Elangovan performed brilliantly and won the bronze medal in the women's pole vault event of athletics, taking India's total medal tally to 23. The Indian team has so far won 2 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze medals. The first historic gold medal for India was won by the Indian women's cricket team, while the second gold medal was won by the pair of Kamaljeet and Suruchi Singh in shooting today at the shooting range. With this multidimensional performance of Indian athletes, India's position in the medal table is continuously getting strengthened.
Amidst the rain of medals in track and field and shooting range, now the eyes of Indian sports lovers are fixed on the cricket field. The Indian men's cricket team is going to start its gold medal campaign in the Asian Games 2026 from 28th September. Under the captaincy of experienced batsman Shreyas Iyer, the Indian team adorned with young and aggressive players will enter the knockout stage directly. After the results of the pre-quarterfinal matches to be held on Saturday, it will be decided which Asian team Team India will face in the quarterfinals. After the gold medal of the women's cricket team, now the entire country has full expectations from the men's team also to reach the top of the podium.