Asian Youth Games 2025: Oshin, Edwina shine in athletics, Veer Bhadu strikes bronze in MMA

MANAMA (Bahrain): Teenage sensations Oshin, Edwina Jason, and Veer Bhadu striking podium finishes in traditional mixed martial arts (MMA) headlined a strong show for India at the ongoing Asian Youth Games 2025 in Manama.

India added five medals to its tally with Oshin (discus throw) and Edwina Jason (400m) claiming silver, while Palash Mandal (boys’ 5000m walk), Zubin Gohain (boys’ high jump) and Veer Bhadu, contesting in the traditional mixed martial arts (MMA) boys’ 80kg category, bagged bronze medals, according to Olympics.com.

In the girls’ discus throw event, Oshin notched a personal best effort of 43.38m on her first attempt at the Bahrain National Stadium to settle for the second spot behind Xinyi Wang of the People’s Republic of China. To strike gold, Wang broke the Games record with a sensational throw of 55.38m.

Veer Bhadu wins India’s first MMA medal at the Asian Youth Games!

He clinches Bronze in Traditional MMA Boys’ 80kg event after defeating Barisri Dechachot of Thailand by unanimous decision.#AsianYouthGames pic.twitter.com/hsSXAxBcJF

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) October 24, 2025

Yun-jhen Shih of Chinese Taipei completed the podium with an effort of 43.00m. Oshin consistently breached the 40m mark in five of her six attempts, but Wang dominated the entire proceedings with a series of 50m-plus throws.

In the girls’ 400m event, Edwina sprinted to the second spot and silver under lights by clocking 55.43s, finishing marginally behind Aisha Tariq of the UAE, who struck gold with a timing of 54.26s. Chia-ying Wu of Chinese Taipei settled for bronze with 56.60s. Tannu, another Indian athlete competing in the event, finished eighth with a wooden spoon in 58.49s.

In the traditional mixed martial arts event, six MMA competitors took part across two groups. Veer Bhadu ended in the second place in Group A and ousted Dechachot Barisri of Thailand to claim bronze.

In the boys’ 5000m walk event, Palash clocked 24:48.92s and ended up with a bronze. Haoze Zhang of China and his compatriot Yujie Lu won gold and silver with timings of 21:43.82s and 22:28.64s, respectively.

In the boys’ high jump event, India’s Zubin Gohain cleared 2.03m to return home with bronze, finishing narrowly behind gold medallist Kai-lun Huang (2.05m) of Chinese Taipei and China’s Zaoxin Bi, claiming silver with 2.03m on countback. Zubin’s compatriot Himanshu Kumar Singh also cleared 2.03m but ended up in the fourth spot after attempts were considered.

After the recent accomplishments, India now has 15 medals: two gold, five silver and eight bronze. With still six days left for the tournament to conclude, India will look to add more medals to its kitty. (ANI)