Kathmandu, 13 Ashoj – Nepal’s Mukesh Pal secured ninth place in the men’s 5000 meters race at the ongoing 20th Asian Games in Japan, setting a new national record. The final took place at Nagoya City’s Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium, where Mukesh completed the distance in 14 minutes 03.61 seconds. He finished 32.82 seconds behind the winner, Birhanu Balew of Bahrain. Mukesh narrowly missed breaking the national record in the 5000 meters by approximately three seconds.
The previous national record was held by Rajendra Bhandari, who ran 14 minutes 01.19 seconds at the 2006 South Asian Games. Prior to the Games, Mukesh expressed his determination to break the national record. “This time, I was determined to break the record. I aimed to set a new national record in the 5000 meters,” Mukesh stated.
The gold medal was claimed by Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew with a time of 13 minutes 30.79 seconds, followed closely by Japan’s Tomonori Yamaguchi securing silver at 13 minutes 31.43 seconds, and India’s Gulveer Singh taking bronze with 13 minutes 32.75 seconds. With this event concluded, Nepalese athletes’ participation in athletics at the Games has come to an end.
