Nagoya, Sept. 29 -- The Indian quartet of Kiran Pahal, Poovamma Machettira, Prachi, and Vithya Ramraj produced an exceptional performance to claim the gold medal in women's 4x400m
relay at the Asian Games here on Tuesday, finally breaking the
yellow metal jinx in the ongoing edition.
The Indian team won the top prize with a time of 3:29.69 minutes, giving the country its first gold medal in track and field events at the ongoing games. Bahrain and China finished second and third respectively.
Earlier, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Sneha Sathyanarayana and Harita Bhadra won the bronze medal in the 4x100m mixed relay final after clocking a season best time of 41.06 seconds.
India's Pooja Singh fared well below her personal best with a leap of 1.84 metre but that
was enough to clinch a bronze medal in women's high jump.
The 19-year-old was leading her event for a good part before squandering the advantage with a poor effort.
This was after India's Gulveer Singh continued his spectacular run of form at the ongoing games by winning a bronze medal in men's 5000m
with a time of 13:32.75, completing a hat-trick of podium finishes in the Japanese city.
In the day's last track and field event, Dharamveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil, Jay Kumar and Vishal Thennarasu clocked 3:01.61 to finish third behind Japan and Qatar in the men's 4x400m relay final.
Tuesday's triumph added a remarkable new chapter to the personal story of Poovamma, one of India's greatest track and field stars.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.