Medallist Priti Lamba slams countries for bringing athletes of other nations

Hangzhou [China] : Indian athlete Priti Lamba, who secured a bronze medal in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event on Monday, criticised nations that recruit athletes from other countries to compete in the Asian Games.

She said while referring to the Kenyan players who were sponsored by Kazhakistan and Qatar to compete in Asian Games.

Parul Chaudhary and Priti clinched silver and bronze medals respectively which marked the first time that two medals for India came in a single steeple event in the women’s category.

Among the competitors, there was an athlete named Daisy Jepkemei who represented Kazakhstan, was a Kenyan-born athlete.

Priti slammed countries for sponsoring athletes from other countries and told reporters, “This harms the Asian athletes, Qatar sponsors Kenyan players to play for their country they should prepare their athletes rather than buying other athletes to increase their medal tally. They should invest money in their athletes rather than buying players from other countries. The girl who participated for Kazhakistan is from Kenya.”

She went on to thank the entire nation for their support and especially her husband who supported her in her journey.

“I want to thank the entire nation and my family. I am married and I want to especially thank my husband for his support,” Priti added.

Coming to the event Priti clocked her personal best timing of 9:43.32s to walk away with a bronze.

Earlier in the day, the Indian team comprising Muhammed Ajmal, Vithya Ramraj, Rajesh Ramesh and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3:14.34s to claim the silver medal.

Bahrain topped the chart with timing of 3:14.02s and Kazakhstan with their season-best timing of 3:24.85s claimed the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, Indian athlete Ancy Sojan Edappilly bagged a silver medal in the women’s long jump.

On her fifth try, she registered her personal best of 6.63m and secured a podium finish.

China’s Shiqi Xiong also broke through her limits and gave a personal best attempt of 6.73m. The bronze medal was secured by Nga Yan from Hong Kong, China with a distance of 6.50 which was also her personal best.

Shaili Singh was another Indian athlete who was competing in the women’s long jump. But her efforts were not enough to bring another medal for India. She ended up in the fifth position with an attempt of 6.48m.