India’s 4x400m women’s relay team clinched its fifth consecutive gold medal in the Asian Games to maintain a remarkable domination in this event in the continental showpiece. The Indian women’s quartet of Hima Das, M R Poovamma, Saritaben Gayakwad and Vismaya Velluva Koroth ran 3 minute and 28.72 seconds to claim the gold. Bahrain (3:30.61) and Vietnam (3:33.23) took the silver and bronze respectively. India has been winning the gold in this event since 2002 Asian Games. Poovamma Raju Machettira says, " Coach told me and Hema to give a good lead so that in other third and fourth lap we maintain the pace. Hema gave the lead, I increased the lead and they maintained it, so we won a gold medal. We got a good challenge from Bahrain team. There was a lot of stress but we had only one target and that was to give our best and just go for gold. Women's team had been winning the gold consistently for past five times in Asian Games. Therefore, Silver and bronze were not an option for us."
