Extraordinary day for India at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. 29-year-old Baranica Elangovan has won India’s first-ever pole vault medal in the Asian Games. The athlete from Tamil Nadu cleared 4.15m to bag a bronze medal for the country.
In fact, she is the first Indian to win a pole vault medal at one of the following three big events: Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.
Baranica was unfortunate to miss out on the last Asian Games in Hangzhou. A sub-standard performance at a inter-state meet in Bhubaneshwar cost her a place in the Asiad squad for the China event three years ago. The remarkable thing about her is she has improved over the years.
“After facing an ACL injury in 2020 and a challenging period of rehabilitation, she moved to the Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar in 2023, where improved training and recovery facilities helped her make significant progress,” a Sports Authority of India (SAI) bio on the athlete said. “Her progression reflects years of perseverance, technical development and dedicated training,” the SAI bio added. She had her share of injuries too but she eventually overcame them to be where she is today.
