Uttar Pradesh athletes Kiran Baliyan, Gulveer Singh, Ajay Kumar Saroj, Seema Punia, Parul Chaudhary and Annu Rani all won medals. India enjoyed their best athletics campaign since the inaugural 1951 Asian Games in 2023 Hangzhou, winning 29 medals – six gold, 14 silver and nine bronze. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh has always been an important part of India’s success in athletics world over.
As India’s third‑best male long jumper ever and a global junior medallist, Shahnavaz has the speed and technique to challenge for an Asian Games medal. Shaili will surely be among the top finishers if she jumps close to her personal best While the Asian Games field is deep. Neeru Pathak, from Aligarh, is one of India’s most promising 400m runners. This year, she took 400m bronze in the U20 Asian Championships and was part of India’s winning women’s 4x100m squad at the Asian Relay Championships.
Long jumper Shahnavaz Khan, an 18‑year‑old from Pratapgarh, has enjoyed a breakthrough 2026 and has a good for a podium finish. He won bronze at the recent World U20 Championships in Eugene with 7.84m, then broke the junior national record twice — 8.23m (Federation Cup) and then 8.30m at the National Inter‑States — to qualify for the Asian Games. Woman long jumper Shaili Singh, from Jhansi, holds the U20 national record (6.76m), her personal best. In 2026, she won gold at the New Taipei City Athletics Open with 6.24m and has a season’s best of 6.58m, achieved at the Federation Cup meet. After a strong 2025 — she won gold in the 400m and 4×400m mixed relay at the National Open and clocked an individual best of 52.85secs — she has progressed to the senior national team.
The two‑time Olympian, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist in the 10,000m race walk, holds national records in the 20km and 35km events. In 2026, she finished 10th in the marathon race walk at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Brasília (3:43:01) and placed second in the Indian Open marathon race walk clocking 3:37:25. Priyanka, who hails from Muzaffarnagar, has been India’s leading female race walker for some years.
