India win first athletics gold at Asia as women's 4x400m relay team tops podium

India won its first athletics gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games after the women's 4x400m relay team topped the podium on Tuesday.
The Indian quartet of Kiran Pahal, Poovamma Machettira, Prachi and Vithya Ramraj clocked 3:29.69 to win the gold. Bahrain finished second, while China took the bronze.

Earlier, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Sneha Sathyanarayana and Harita Bhadra won bronze in the 4x100m mixed relay final with a season-best time of 41.06 seconds.
China won gold in 40.78 seconds, while Thailand took silver in 40.87 seconds. The Indian quartet had finished second behind China in the heats.

Gulveer Singh also continued his impressive run at the Games, winning bronze in the men's 5000m with a time of 13:32.75.
The medal was Gulveer's third podium finish at the Games. He had earlier won silver in the men's 1500m and 10,000m events.

Gulveer became the second Indian man and fourth Indian athlete to win three medals in track and field at a single edition of the Asian Games.

Lavy Pinto, who won three medals at the 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi, PT Usha, who won four at Seoul 1986, and KM Beenamol, who won three at Busan 2002, had previously achieved the feat.

In the men's 4x400m relay, Dharamveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil, Jay Kumar and Vishal Thennarasu clocked 3:01.61 to finish third behind Japan and Qatar.

In the women's hammer throw, Tanya Chaudhary finished fourth with an effort of 65.35m, while compatriot Anushka Yadav was fifth with 64.56m.
India's Dev Kumar Meena set a national record in the men's pole vault with a clearance of 5.50m, but finished seventh.

Pooja Olla finished seventh in the women's 800m, while Mohammed Afsal was eighth in the men's 800m.