Dharun clinches silver in 400m hurdles

India's Dharun Ayyasamy claimed the silver medal after producing national record in the men's 400 metres hurdles at the 18th Asian Games here on Monday.

Dharun recorded his personal best of 48.96 seconds to finish second behind Qatari Abderrahman Samba, who delivered a Games record timing of 47.6s.

The Tamil Nadu athlete held the previous national record mark of 49.45 seconds, set during the Federation Cup in March.

Here in this Indonesian capital, the 21-year-old became the first Indian to break the 49s timing.

Dharun was a slow starter and was outside the top three positions till 300 metres. He was contending between fourth and fifth spot. But he made a great dash in the final 100m to finish second as India got a medal in the discipline after a gap of eight years.

The bronze medal went to Takatoshi Abe, who timed 49.12 seconds, while Taiwan's Chieh Chen was fourth with a timing of 49.62 seconds.

Another Indian in the fray, T. Santhosh Kumar, completed the race in 49.66 seconds.

--IANS

pur/sed