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Triple jumper Asha Ilango missed an Asian Games bronze medal by the narrowest possible margin, the Indian Express reported on 9 October 2026.
Quick Facts
| Event | Women’s triple jump |
| Asian Games mark | 13.83m |
| Result | Tied for third; lost the bronze on countback |
| State | Tamil Nadu |
| Coach | Nalvin Raja, Madurai |
How She Missed the Medal
Asha was tied with China’s Li Yi at 13.83m. Li took the bronze because her second-best jump was better.
A Year Earlier, She Wanted to Stop
Asha has competed in the triple jump for a decade. For a long time she could not get past the 13-metre mark, hovering around 12.8m.
After stress fractures in both ankles, she considered leaving the sport.
“I had given up on the sport. I wanted to go to NIS Patiala for a coaching diploma and stop doing the triple jump,” she told the Indian Express.
“My family was suggesting that I should get married as I had turned 27. I didn’t even have a national medal to show for my efforts. I didn’t have sponsors or anything, so what was I doing?”
One More Year
A friend persuaded her to give it one more year.
That was when she met Nalvin Raja, a former sprinter who coaches children in Madurai.
“When Asha came to train under me, she was very raw in terms of technique. We worked on everything,” he said.
What She Gained
She did not win a medal. What she won, the newspaper wrote, was the trust of her family and the self-belief she had lost.
Source: Indian Express (9 October 2026).
Featured image: A women’s triple jump competition in 2019 (file photo; the athlete pictured is not Asha Ilango). Photo by Daniel, licensed under CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.