Pune: India finished its 20th Asian Athletics Championship on a high after winning one gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals on the final of competitons at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi here on Sunday.
Women's 400m relay team, that was assembled at the last minute by having 800m specialist Tintu Luka run at No 2 position, won the gold medal to a thunderous applause of the packed audience.
The Indian team comprising Nirmala, Tintu Luka, Anu Mariam Jose and MR Poovamma ran brilliantly after Luka gave a good run to clock 3 minutes 32.26 seconds for the gold medal.
Chinese women followed in the second place at 3:35.31 and Japan was thrid for the bronze medal with 3:35.72.
Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary won the silver medal after a leap of 16.76 metres, just one centimetre behind gold medal winner Cao Shuo of China. India's Arpinder Singh sneaked in to win the bronze medal with a leap of 16.58 as India enjoyed a fruitful day on Sunday.
Second silver medal came in the women's 200m sprint when Asha Roy led an India 2-3 finish much against the expectations.
High jumper Jithin Thomas had to settle for the silver medal after he was tied for the top place at 2.21m with two other jumpers.
After a series of jumps to break the tie between China's Bi Xiaolang and Iran's Keyvan Ghanbarzadeh, Jithin failed to clear 2.20 after Xiaolang had cleared it. The Iranian too failed giving the Chinese gold medal.
Asha Roy was home 23.71 seconds, while Dutee Chand pushed Chisato Fukushima of Japan to the fourth place by virture of a photofinish.
The other two bronze medals came in men's 400m hurdles through Satinder Singh and woman 2-lap runner Tintu Luka.
The prizes were given at the hands of Mr. Harshawardhan Patil, Minister of Cooperatives & Mr. Padmakar Valvi, Sports Minister of Maharashtra.
Asian Athletics Championship:
Results: Day 4
Men:
200m: 1. Xie Zhenye (Chn) 20.87s, 2. Fahad Mohammed (Ksa) 20.92, 3. Kei Takase (Jpn) 20.92.
800m: Musaab Abdelrahman (Qat) 1:46.92, 2. Abdulaziz Ladan (Ksa) 1:47.01, 3. Bilal Mansour Ali (Brn)1:48.56, 4. Manjit Singh (Ind) 1:49.70.
5000m: 1. Regassa Mooto Dejene (Brn) 13:53.25, 2. Gebre Alemu Bekele (Brn) 13:57.23, 3. Hamed Nour Emad (Ksa) 14:05.88, 4. Lakshmanan G (Ind) 15:17.01, 5. Nitender Singh14:19.43…7. Mohammed Yunus (Ind) 14:32.32.
400m hurdles: 1. Fueki Yasuhiro (Jpn) 49.86s, 2. Wen Cheng (Chn) 50.07, 3. Satinder Singh (Ind) 50.35.
4x400m relay: 1. Saudi Arabia 3:02.53 NMR (old 3:02.61, Japan in Fukuoka in 1998), 2. Japan 3:04.46, 3. Sri Lanka 3:04.92, 4. India (Davinder Singh, Sachin Roby, Mohammed Kunhi, Rajiv Arokia) 3:06.01.
High jump: 1. Bi Xiaoliang (Chn) 2.21m, 2. Jithin Thomas (Ind) and Keyvan Ghanbarzadeh (Iri) 2.21.
Triple jump: 1. Cao Shu (Chn) 16.77m, 2. Renjith Maheswary (Ind) 16.76, 3. Arpinder Singh (Ind) 16.58…6. Mohammed Salahuddin (Ind) 15.71.
Women:
200m: 1. Viktoriya Zyabkina (Kaz) 23.62s, 2. Asha Roy (Ind) 23.71, 3. Dutee Chand (Ind) 23.82 (23:811), 4. Chisato Fukushima (Jpn) 23.82 (23:812)…7. Srabani Nanda (Ind) 24.38.
800m: 1. Wang Chunyu (Chn) 2:02.47, 2. Regasa Genzeb Shumi (Brn) 2:04.16, 3. Tintu Luka (Ind) 2:04.48…6. Sushma Devi (Ind) 2:06.87, 7. Gamathi M (Ind) 2:10.74.
5000m: 1. Belayneh Desalegn Betlhem (UAE) 15:12.84 NMR (old 15:22.84 Daba Chalchissa Tejitu of Bahrain in 2011 Kobe), 2. Eshete Shitaye (Brn) 15:22.17, 3. Daba Chalchissa Tejitu (Brn) 15:38.63…7. Preeja Sreedharan (Ind) 16:29.64, 8. OP Jaisha (Ind) 16:35.47.
400m hurdles: 1. Satomi Kubokura (Jpn) 56.82s, 2. Manami Kira (Jpn) 57.78, 3. Jo Eun-Ju (Kor) 58.21…6. Elavarasi R (Ind) 1:04.12.
4x400m relay: 1. India (Nirmala, Tintu Luka, Anu Mariam Jose, MR Poovamma) 3:32.26, 2. China 3:35.31, 3. Japan 3:35.72.
