Sable, Jyothi, women's 4x400m relay team on top at Asian Athletics

It was a golden day for India on Day 3 of the 26th Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, as the women's 4x400m relay team came up with a season's best effort to end a 12-year wait for a gold medal.

- TRIDIB BAPARNASH

Earlier, star hurdler Jyothi Yarraji delivered a sensational performance, clocking 12.96 seconds to set a new meet record and successfully defend her women's 100m hurdles title. Her win came shortly after national record holder Avinash Sable made history by becoming the first Indian man in 36 years to win gold in the 3000m steeplechase at the event.

Later in the evening, the men's 4x400m relay team settled for the silver medal while India achieved a 2-3 in women's long jump with Ancy Sojan (6.33m) winning a silver and Shaili Singh (6.30m) taking the bronze.

This takes India's overall medal tally to 14, including five golds at the end of the third day's competitions.

The women's quartet of Jisna Mathew, Rupal Chaudhary, Kunja Rajitha and Subha Venkatesan came up with a season best timing of 3:34.18s to finish on top of the podium. Vietnam took the silver with 3:34.77s while Sri Lanka bagged the bronze with 3:36.67s.

Their male counterparts, comprising the quartet of Jay Kumar, Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil Saji and Vishal TK, however, failed to recreate the magic and ended up with a silver after clocking 3:03.67s. Qatar took the gold with 3:03.52s while China ended up with 3:03.73s for the bronze.