The Indian team which won silver medal in the 4×400 Relay race during the Asian Games in Japan.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
Thirty minutes of persistence on the track followed by three of absolute drama saw day one of track and field competition end with a bronze and silver for India as the country opened its Asian Games athletics medal tally in Nagoya on Thursday (September 24, 2026).
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The 4x400m mixed relay team rode on tactical personnel changes, impressive lead-off and anchor legs and a stroke of luck to finish in 3:14.46, earning silver in the final event of the day at the Paloma Mizuho stadium. Minutes before, Seema had ended a 16-year drought in 10,000m, willing herself past the line in 32:50.05 to come third.
The Indian quartet of Vishal T.K. — India’s only sub-45-second quartermiler — M.R. Poovamma, Manu T.S. and Vithya Ramraj played their roles to perfection. Vishal ran with blistering pace before Poovamma and Manu ensured the team did not fall too far behind. Vithya, the only surviving member of the team that won silver in 2023, kicked in an extra gear, edging past Vietnam by a mere 0.08 seconds.
Interestingly, India was second in its heat in the morning, clocking 3:16.23, but replaced Jay Kumar and Kiran with Vishal and Vithya for the final.
The UAE, which had led for a large part of the race, fumbled towards the end, with Mariam Kareem dropping the baton just before the final lap. She did try to retrieve it and complete but the team was disqualified by the officials. Even though the UAE protested, the result stayed. Bahrain, led by the indefatigable Salwa Eid Naser, retained top spot with a new Games record of 3:12.87.
Seema wins 10,000m bronze
Seema, meanwhile, became only the third Indian woman to medal in the 10,000m at the Asian Games, after Preeja Sreedharan and Kavita Raut’s historic gold-silver double back in 2010. The 25-year-old, competing in her first Asiad, was impressive as much in her endurance to keep pace with the lead group — which included the likes of Yavi Winfred, Ruth Jebet and local star Nozomi Tanaka — as her race intelligence.
“I led for the first couple of laps and then realised that no one was going to [take the] lead because the best runners will always wait for the final laps. I changed my strategy and decided to run like others because this is my first competition at this level,” Seema said.
“At one point, I thought I could go for the win, but I could not push as hard as the others did. But now I have begun to understand the tactics and race strategy. The next time, I will not wait so long to push myself. I will use my learning from here in the 5000m,” she added.
Heartbreak in triple jump; sprinters reach semis
Triple jumper Asha Ilango suffered a heartbreak, coming fourth despite a best of 13.83m — it was the same as Li Yi of China but the Indian missed out on countback.
Li, the reigning Asian champion, had 13.79m as her next best jump while Asha had 13.65m. Niharika Vashisht finished 10th with a best effort of 13m. Uzbekistan’s Sharifa Davronova defended her title with a massive 14.35m, with Huang Yingying of China second with 14.12m.
Both Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh advanced to the semifinals from their respective 100m heats. Anamika A.K. was seventh in heptathlon after four events with 3177 points and Pooja was ninth with 3159 points.
Published – September 25, 2026 12:09 am IST
