Sawan Barwal entered the history books on Saturday. He ran a stunning marathon race to hand India an unexpected silver medal at the Asian Games, shattering his own national record in the process. After the historic run, a report claimed that Barwal did not have an Indian flag to hold after he completed the race. Adille J. Sumariwalla, World Athletics vice-president, refuted the claims.
The 28-year-old Army man from Himachal Pradesh clocked 2 hours, 11 minutes and 37 seconds to complete the distance of 42.195km and finish behind Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita (2:10:49). China’s Peiyou Feng was third with 2:12:13.
“Absolute nonsense and ridiculous. “I don’t know what they (the reports) are talking about. “The way I trained, the target was to finish with a medal, not to better my national record. But it was also a national record. I tried to stay with the group.
I am very happy to have won a medal for the country, that too after a long time (since 1982),” Barwal told PTI after the gruelling race. “My target was to stay with the lead group up to 39-40km. So, I was in the lead group and decided to make my move in the last 1-2km. His first national-level event came in the U-18 category in 2015, a 3,000m race. His first senior-level race was in the Federation Cup in 2021 in the 5,000m event. He won gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 2025 National Games in Dehradun. In 2019, he joined his elder brother in the Army under the sports quota.
Coaches Scott Simmons, Ronald Gerd Weigel, Younis and Ajit, recovery expert Asanha de Silva, physios Mayur Thakkar and Ishaan Marwaha, and masseur Rengith Gopi were all there,” he told NDTV. By around 37km, there were just three runners left, and the third runner fell behind,” he said.
Barwal’s Unexpected Journey into Running
Barwal, a passionate runner for over ten years, found his calling in athletics by chance. At the age of 14, he was inspired to pursue the 1,500m event after watching his elder brother compete on the school’s track team. This pivotal moment occurred during a visit to a local track near his home, where he was encouraged to train and develop his skills in the sport.
