Asian Games 2026: Women’s 400m relay quartet ends wait for athletics gold

In the end, it was left to the women, yet again, to spare Indian athletics’ 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 ending the Asian Games without a gold medal for the first time in 32 years was 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 (September 29, 2026) to regain the top spot that they have traditionally held in the 4x400m relay and had to cede last time around to Bahrain.

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Kiran Pahal set the tone to ensure the Indians would not be outrun right at the beginning. M.R. Poovamma, the seniormost in the side, silenced her critics and proved her longevity. Poovamma, who was part of the gold medal-winning quartet in the same discipline in 2014 and 2018, also showed that she deserved her spot with a blazing second leg.

It was Prachi Chaudhary, a member of the silver-winning team last time around, who started the fightback against the insane pace of Bahrain and China, climbing to second place. It was left to Vithya Ramraj, who set a new National record in 400m hurdles the other day and already had a silver in the 4x400m mixed relay, to finish it off and the 28-year-old duly obliged. 69s.