Asian Athletics: India finish on a high

Pune: India finished the 20th Asian Athletics Championship on a high after winning a gold, two silver and four bronze medals on the final day of the competition at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Sunday.

The women`s 400m relay team, which was assembled at the last minute by having 800m specialist Tintu Luka run at No.2 position, won the gold medal to thunderous applause from the packed audience. The team comprising Nirmala, Luka, Anu Mariam Jose and M.R. Poovamma ran brilliantly after Luka gave a good run to clock three minutes 32.26 seconds for the gold medal. Chinese women followed in the second place at 3:35.31 ahead of Japan, who produced 3:35.72. Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary won the silver medal after a leap of 16.76 metres, just one centimetre behind gold winner Cao Shuo of China. India`s Arpinder Singh sneaked in to win the bronze with a leap of 16.58. The second silver came in the women`s 200m sprint where Asha Roy made India proud, much against expectations. High jumper Jithin Thomas had to settle for the silver 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 the gold. Asha Roy was home 23.71 seconds, while Dutee Chand pushed Chisato Fukushima of Japan to the fourth place by virtue of a photo finish. The other two bronze medals came in men`s 400m hurdles through Satinder Singh and women`s two-lap runner Luka. IANS