shaBHUBANESHWAR: The Indian quartermilers and middle-distance runners excelled on Day Two of the Asian Athletics Championship sharing four gold medals among them. It was Muhammed Anas and Nirmala S, who ran outstanding 400m races to lit up the day, while Ajay Kumar and Chithra P U rounded off the day with two other yellow metal in the 1500m races.
Having had to run an extra race after the first leg of the semifinal was cancelled due to a technical snag in false start indicator, Anas didn't allow tiredness to creep in and blasted off in the home stretch to pip compatriot Arokia Rajiv for gold. He clocked 45.77s while Arokia finished in 46.14.
Nirmala was ruthless in her final race as she dominated the event to finish ahead of Vietnam's Quach Thi in 52.01s. Jisna Mathew came third in 53.32s. M R Poovamma was a disappointment as she came fourth.
Anas was happy over his timing and said that rain, which had interrupted the day's proceedings- affected his rhythm. " It was a good race. If the conditions were good I could have done better," he said.
P U Chithra recorded the biggest win so far in her career by finishing 1500m in 4:17.92. Ajay recorded 3:45:85 to clinch gold in men's 1500m.