Silver medals from India’s 16-year-old girls Oshin (discus throw) and Edwina Jason (400m) headlined the country’s strong show on Friday at the Asian Youth Games 2025 in Manama, Bahrain.
India won a total of five medals on the day, with Palash Mandal (boys’ 5000m walk), Zubin Gohain (boys’ high jump) and Veer Bhadu, competing in the traditional mixed martial arts (MMA) boys’ 80kg category, bagging bronze medals.
Competing at the Bahrain National Stadium, Oshin registered a personal best of 43.38m on her first attempt to finish second behind People’s Republic of China’s Xinyi Wang, who secured the discus throw gold with a Games record of 55.38m.
Chinese Taipei’s Yun-jhen Shih took bronze with a throw of 43.00m in the field of nine athletes.
Oshin showed steady form throughout the series, consistently breaching the 40m mark in five of her six throws. Wang dominated the event with her series of 50m-plus efforts. The Asian Youth Record stands at 60.50m, which belongs to China’s Liang Yan.
Meanwhile, Edwina Jason sprinted to a silver medal in the girls’ 400m under lights later in the day.
Clocking 55.43 seconds, Edwina finished behind the UAE’s Aisha Tariq, who won gold in 54.26s. The Asian Youth Record of 50.01 was clocked in 1997 by Li Jing in Shanghai.
Chinese Taipei’s Chia-ying Wu claimed bronze with a time of 56.60s. India’s Tannu finished with a wooden spoon in eighth in 58.49s.
Earlier in the day, Palash Mandal settled for a bronze medal in the boys’ 5000m walk with a time of 24:48.92. China’s Haoze Zhang took gold with a time of 21:43.82 and his compatriot Yujie Lu claimed silver in 22:28.64.
India’s Nitin Gupta holds the Asian youth record of 19:24.48 in the boys’ 5000m walk set earlier this year.
In the boys’ high jump under the lights, India’s Zubin Gohain cleared 2.03m for bronze, finishing just behind Chinese Taipei’s Kai-lun Huang, who won gold with 2.05m and China’s Zaoxin Bi, who took silver with 2.03m on countback. India’s Himanshu Kumar Singh also cleared 2.03m but placed fourth after attempts were considered.
In the traditional mixed martial arts, India’s Veer Bhadu clinched the bronze medal in the boys’ 80kg category at the Exhibition World Bahrain.
Six MMA competitors took part in the category across two groups. Group A winner Amirmahdi Vazifeh Hajikhajehlo of the Islamic Republic of Iran qualified for Saturday’s final against Group B winner Nurtileu Otegen of Kazakhstan. Veer, placed second in Group A, settled for bronze after defeating Thailand’s Dechachot Barisri.
With the five medals on Friday – four in athletics and one in MMA, India now have 15 medals – two gold, five silver and eight bronze – at the Asian Youth Games 2025. The two gold medals were bagged by the Indian men’s and women’s kabaddi teams.
A total of 222 Indian athletes are representing their country at the Asian Youth Games, which will conclude on October 31.
