Asian Games 2018: I had the capacity in me and that saved me, says Jinson Johnson

India’s Jinson Johnson claimed a gold medal in the Asian Games men’s 1500m event, in which 800m champion Manjit Singh finished fourth here today. Johnson clocked 3:44.72sec to claim the top honours ahead of Iran’s Amir Moradi, who turned in a timing of 3:45.62sec, his season’s best effort. Johnson earlier won a silver in the 800m event. He said, ""In the 800 metres, I only realised after the race got finished that a lot of people were expecting me to win the gold. Even though I got the silver, I was satisfied, but people were not satisfied. So, in the 1500 metres I gave it my all, and so I got gold. This was a very tactical race, just follow the lead, and in the last 150 metres I pushed hard. It's the first time I'm winning gold in an international competition. I've been running continuously for the last four days (i.e. each day). And because of that, there was pressure to run 1500 metres. In this race, there were quite a few who were only competing in this event. So, they were fresher than me. But for me, this was my fourth race. So I was a bit tired, but still. At the Commonwealth Games, I did 3 minutes 37 seconds and created a new national record. Therefore, I had the capacity in me. And that saved me."