GUWAHATI: India ended its athletics gold drought at the Asian Games 2026 as the women’s 4x400m relay team clinched gold in spectacular fashion in Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday, September 29.
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The Indian quartet of Vithya Ramraj, Kiran Pahal, Machettira Poovamma and Prachi clocked 3:29.69 to finish first. Bahrain took silver in 3:30.21, while China secured bronze with a timing of 3:31.02.
The gold medal came after a series of silver and bronze finishes for India in athletics and ensured the country avoided going without an athletics gold at the Asian Games for the first time since the 1994 Hiroshima Games.
Kiran Pahal opened the race for India and handed over the baton in third place. Poovamma then produced a strong second leg to move India into the lead, with Prachi maintaining the advantage through the third leg.
Vithya Ramraj took over for the anchor leg and held off Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Nasr in the closing stages to seal the gold for India.
Earlier in the athletics programme, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Sneha Sathyanarayana and Harita Bhadra won bronze in the mixed 4x100m relay final. The Indian team clocked a season-best 41.06 seconds to finish third.
The women’s 4x400m relay victory thus provided India with its first athletics gold of the 2026 Asian Games.
