Published: September 29, 2026 at 10:20 pm
After an agonizingly long wait, India finally struck gold in athletics at the Asian Games 2026, with Kiran Pahal, Poovamma Machettira, Prachi Choudhary and Vithya Ramraj winning the women’s 4x400m relay on the final day of competition in Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday.
Yash Vir Singh and Rohit Yadav win silver and bronze as Sri Lankan Rumesh takes gold
The Indian athletes clocked 3:29.69 at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium to beat Bahrain, featuring Olympic medallist Salwa Eid Naser, who took silver in 3:30.21. The People’s Republic of China claimed bronze in 3:31.02.
https://x.com/nnis_sports/status/2104907792071205276?s=20
The gold came in the penultimate event of India’s seven-day athletics campaign. It was India’s sixth Asian Games women’s 4x400m relay title and first since Jakarta 2018. The Indian women had won the event at five consecutive editions from Busan 2002 to Jakarta 2018 before finishing runners-up at Hangzhou 2023.
Poovamma was also part of the gold medal-winning teams at Incheon 2014 and Jakarta 2018. The gold capped a memorable campaign for
Vithya had broken PT Usha’s 42-year-old national record
Vithya, who had broken PT Usha’s 42-year-old national record in the women’s 400m hurdles a day earlier. Vithya won bronze in that event and had also been part of India’s silver medal-winning mixed 4x400m relay team.
https://x.com/mygovindia/status/2104825165335159202?s=20
India then signed off from the athletics programme with another medal as Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil, Jay Kumar and Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi clocked 3:01.61 to take bronze in the men’s 4x400m relay.
Gulveer Singh completes a hat-trick
Earlier, Gulveer Singh completed a hat-trick of medals in Aichi-Nagoya with a bronze in the 5000m.
Gulveer Singh completed a hat-trick of medals in Aichi-Nagoya with a bronze in the 5000m. He had won silver medals in the 10000m and 1500m earlier. Pics: X
https://x.com/nnis_sports/status/2104897983087284699?s=20
The Indian distance runner clocked 13:32.75, finishing behind Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew, who won in 13:30.79, and Japan’s Tomonori Yamaguchi, who took silver in 13:31.43. Gulveer won silver medals in the 10000m and 1500m earlier. Avinash Sable, who was also entered in the 5000m, did not start.
Pooja Singh wins bronze
Reigning Asian champion Pooja Singh cleared 1.84m to win bronze in the women’s high jump. Pooja successfully cleared 1.84m on her first attempt but failed three times at 1.87m. Supriya Sindigere Basavaraju, meanwhile, bowed out after being unable to clear 1.80m and finished 12th.
India added another bronze in the mixed 4x100m relay, where Gurindervir Singh, Sneha Shanuvalli, Animesh Kujur and Harita Bhadra clocked 41.06s for a new Indian national record. China won the mixed relay in 40.78s, while Thailand took silver in 40.87.
There was another national record for India in the men’s pole vault, but it did not land a medal. Dev Meena cleared 5.50m on his second attempt to improve his own national record of 5.46m and finished seventh. Kuldeep Kumar cleared 5.35m to finish 10th.
Reigning Asian champion Pooja Singh cleared 1.84m to win bronze in the women’s high jump
In the women’s hammer throw, Tanya Chaudhary finished in fourth place with 65.35m, ahead of compatriot Anushka Yadav, who managed 64.56m.
Pooja finished seventh in the women’s 800m in 2:06.72, while national record holder Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath was eighth in the men’s 800m with a time of 1:48.27.
India won five medals on the final day, one gold and four bronze medals, to finish their Asian Games 2026 athletics campaign with 24 medals: one gold, nine silver and 14 bronze. The tally was five fewer than the 29 medals, six gold, 14 silver and nine bronze, won at Hangzhou 2023.
India won medals in four of the five relay events they contested at Aichi-Nagoya. Besides the women’s 4x400m gold and men’s 4x400m bronze on Tuesday, India won silver in the mixed 4x400m and bronze in the mixed 4x100m. The women’s 4x100m team finished fourth.
