Golden glow: Mixed relay team’s 2018 Asian Games silver upgraded to gold

New Delhi, July 23

The Indian 4x400m mixed relay team’s silver medal in the 2018 Asian Games has been upgraded to gold following the disqualification of the original winners Bahrain on account of a doping ban handed to one of its runners.

Bahrain was disqualified after Kemi Adekoya was handed a four-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for failing a dope test.

The Indian quartet of Mohammed Anas, MR Poovamma, Hima Das and Arokia Rajiv had clocked 3 minutes, 15.71 seconds to finish behind Bahrain (3:11:89).

Anu Raghavan gets bronze

Besides this, Anu Raghavan’s fourth-place finish in the women’s 400m hurdles event has been upgraded to a bronze medal after the AIU annulled the results of Adekoya, who originally won the race. Raghavan had clocked 56.92 seconds to finish fourth.

“The additional medal takes our tally to 20, including eight gold and nine silver,” Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla said. “The news comes as a fillip as we are aiming to build on the Asian Games showing and make a mark in the Olympics next year,” he added. — PTI