Asiad athletics: Khushbir wins silver; bronzes from Rajiv, Povamma and Manju

It was a good day for India at the track and field events Sunday as race walker Khushbir Kaur clinched the silver medal while three more bronze medals came from quartermilers Arokia Rajiv and M. Povamma Raju and hammer thrower Manju Bala in the 17th Asian Games at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium here.

Khushbir set the day for India by winning the silver medal in an hour and 33 minutes, 2.01 minutes behind China's Xiuzhi Lu, who took the gold in the women's 20km race walk event. South Korea's Yeongeun Jeon won bronze with a timing of 1:33:18 secs.

But there was disappointment in store for the men, as Irfan Thodi (1:23:18 secs) finished fifth while K. Ganapathi was disqualified. The gold went to China's Zhen Wang (1:19:45 secs) while Japan's Yusuke Suzuki (1:20:44 secs) and South Korea's Hyunsub Kim (1:21:37 secs) took the silver and bronze, respectively.

The quartermilers also put up a fine show as Rajiv and Povamma clinched the bronze medals in the men and women's 400 metre events, respectively.

Rajiv clocked a personal best of 45.92 secs to win the bronze while the gold medal went to Saudi Arabia's Yousef Ahmed Masrahim, who set a Games Record of 44.46 secs. The silver was clinched by 18-year-old Abbas Abubakar of Bahrain with a timing of 45.62 secs. Masrahim had also set the Asian record of 44.43 secs in the Diamond League in Lausanne in July.

In the women's event, Bahrain's Oluwakemi Mujidat Adekoya clinched the gold medal with a timing of 51.59 secs. Vietnam's Thi Lan Quach got the silver with a personal best effort of 52.06 secs and Povamma got the bronze with a timing of 52.36 secs.

Manju won the bronze medal in the women's hammer throw. Manju threw the hammer to a distance of 60.47 metres in her first attempt to win the bronze. The gold and silver went to China's Wenxiu Zhang (77.33m) and Zheng Wang (74.16m), respectively.