– by Pratyusha Mukherjee, Aichi-Nagoya, Japan
India finally opened its gold-medal account in athletics at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games as the women’s 4x400m relay quartet clinched the top spot on the concluding day of the track and field competition.
Kiran Pahal, M R Poovamma, Prachi Chaudhary and Vithya Ramraj clocked 3:29.69 to win the gold medal, finishing ahead of Bahrain (3:30.21) and China (3:31.02) at the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium.
The victory ended India’s six-day wait for an athletics gold and extended the country’s strong record in the women’s 4x400m relay at the Asian Games. India had won the event from 2002 to 2018 before settling for silver at the previous edition in China.
The experienced Poovamma, 36, was part of India’s gold-winning relay teams in 2014 and 2018.
Gulveer Creates History:
Earlier, Army man Gulveer Singh added another bronze medal to his tally in Niigata, finishing third in the men’s 5000m with a time of 13:32.75.
The result gave Gulveer his third medal of the Games, following silver medals in the men’s 1500m and 10,000m events. He became only the second Indian man to win three athletics medals at a single edition of the Asian Games.
Lavy Pinto, PT Usha and KM Beenamol are the other Indian athletes to have won three or more track and field medals at a single edition of the continental Games, according to the report.
Five Medals on Final Day:
India’s athletics campaign ended with a five-medal haul on Tuesday.
Pooja Singh won bronze in the women’s high jump with a clearance of 1.84m, while the mixed 4x100m relay team of Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, SS Sneha and Harita Bhadra also secured a bronze, clocking 41.06 seconds.
The men’s 4x400m relay quartet of Dharamveer Choudhary, T S Manu, Jay Kumar and Vishal TK added another bronze with a time of 3:01.61.
India finished the athletics competition with 24 medals — one gold, nine silver and 14 bronze.
The women’s 4x400m relay gold provided a fitting finale to India’s athletics campaign, while Gulveer’s three-medal haul emerged as one of the standout individual performances for the Indian contingent.
Image credit: SAI
