In the end, it was left to the women, yet again, to save Indian athletics the blushes.
For a week, the men and women on the track and on the field had come close, only to falter and stumble at the finish line, the threat of finishing the Asian Games without a gold medal for the first time in 32 years getting real with every passing day. Until four women stepped up, in the penultimate event of the Aichi-Nagoya edition at the Paloma Mizuho Athletics Stadium on Tuesday, to regain the top spot that they have traditionally held in the 4x400m relay and had to cede last time around.
Kiran Pahal set the tone to ensure the Indians would not be outrun right at the beginning. MR Poovamma, the seniormost pro in the side, holder of two golds in the event in 2014 and 2018, silenced her critics, proved her longevity and that she had earned her spot in the squad with a blazing second leg. It was Prachi Chaudhary, part of the silver-winning side last time around, who started the fightback against the insane pace of Bahrain and China, climbing to second spot on the second bend of the lap.
It was left to Vithya Ramraj, she who set a new national record the other day and already had a silver in the mixed relay, to finish it off and the 28-year-old duly obliged, first overtaking Zuo Siyu on the final bend and then holding off the legendary Salwa Eid Naser, the quartet finishing in 3:29.69.
Until then, however, it looked like the final day of athletics competition would end the way it started for India – waiting in vain for the national anthem to play, not for want of effort, though, from none more than Gulveer Singh, the man who seems to be born to run – distance, competition and venue no matter.
National record holder Gulveer added a bronze in the 5000m to his two silvers in 10,000m and 1500m to become the first Indian man to win three individual medals in a single edition of the Asiad. Gulveer clocked 13:32.75, a far cry from his personal best but given the tough, testing conditions — constant downpour over the last few days and his tight schedule here — it was creditable.
The men’s quartermilers, defending champions in the 4x400m relay, clocked 3:01.61, Dharamveer Chaudhary, Manu T.S., Jaykumar and Vishal T.K. bringing home bronze while the quartet of Gurindervir Singh, Sneha, Animesh Kujur and Harita Bhadra improved on their heat timing for a bronze with a season’s best of 41.06 seconds.
Pooja Singh, the national record holder in high jump, led for a large part before settling for bronze with a best of 1.84m, clearing every mark on the first attempt till then but failed to clear 1.87m. Pole vaulter Dev Meena finished seventh but managed to set a new national record of 5.50m while Tanya Chaudhary set a new personal best of 65.35m on the last attempt to finish fourth in hammer throw.
Published on Sep 29, 2026
