India women strike 4x400m gold, men take bronze at Asian Games

India signed off from the Asian Games athletics programme with a gold and bronze in the 4x400m relays on Tuesday, with the women’s quartet delivering the country’s first track and field gold of the Games before the men finished third in their final.

Kiran Pahal, Machettira Poovamma, Prachi Chaudhary and Vithya Ramraj combined to clock 3 minutes 29.69 seconds in the women’s 4x400m relay, holding off Bahrain in a closely fought finish. Later, Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil, Jay Kumar and Vishal Thennarasu took bronze in the men’s event with a time of 3:01.61.

Women end gold wait

Kiran opened the women’s final for India and handed over the baton in third position before the experienced Poovamma produced a strong second leg to push the team into contention. Prachi maintained India’s advantage on the third leg before Vithya took charge of the anchor. The 400m hurdler held off Bahrain’s challenge over the closing metres to secure gold.

India finished in 3:29.69, just over half a second ahead of Bahrain, who claimed silver in 3:30.21. China completed the podium with a time of 3:31.02. The result ended India’s wait for an athletics gold at the Aichi-Nagoya Games after the contingent had collected a string of silver and bronze medals over the preceding days.

Third medal for Vithya

The victory also completed an impressive three-medal campaign for Vithya. She had earlier been part of the Indian mixed 4x400m relay team that won silver and then claimed bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles.

Vithya clocked 54.75 seconds in the hurdles final, breaking the long-standing Indian national record of 55.42 seconds set by P T Usha in 1984. She returned for the women’s relay on Tuesday and anchored India to its first athletics gold of the Games.

Prachi also added another medal to her campaign after having earlier won bronze in the women’s 400m.

Men settle for bronze

India’s men followed the women onto the track for the 4x400m relay final but could not defend the title won at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Dharmveer, Manu, Jay and Vishal clocked 3:01.61 to finish third. Japan took gold in 3:00.75, while Qatar secured silver after crossing the line in 3:00.93. Vishal ran the anchor leg for India and managed to hold off Thailand in the closing stages to ensure the defending champions remained on the podium.

Relay medals flow

India also picked up a bronze in the mixed 4x100m relay on Tuesday. Gurindervir Singh, Sneha Sathyanarayana, Animesh Kujur and Harita Bhadra combined for a season-best 41.06 seconds to finish third. China won the mixed relay gold in 40.78 seconds, while Thailand finished second in 40.87 seconds. The three relay medals capped a productive final day for India on the athletics track, with the women’s 4x400m title providing the standout result.

More medals on final day

Earlier, Gulveer Singh won bronze in the men’s 5,000m with a timing of 13:32.75, completing a three-medal campaign after his silvers in the 10,000m and 1,500m.

Pooja also added a bronze in the women’s high jump, clearing 1.84 metres. The combination of individual and relay podium finishes gave India a strong finish to its athletics campaign despite having to wait until the final day for its first gold.