Jakarta: Hima Das and Muhammed Anas won a silver medal each in women’s and men’s 400m as Indian athletes continued their strong show in the Asian Games here, Sunday.
The silver medal each from Hima and Anas was on expected lines as the gold winners in their respective events were outright pre-race favourites.
For Hima, it was her second national record in two days as she clocked 50.59 seconds to win the silver, behind Bahrain’s Salwa Naser who won the gold in a new Games record time 50.09 seconds.
Hima had qualified for the final with a national record time 51.00 seconds Saturday, bettering the 14-year-old mark set by Manjeet Kaur (51.05) in Chennai in 2004. It was India’s first medal in women’s 400m since Manjeet won a silver at the 2006 Doha edition.
Naser, the Nigerian-born 2017 World Championships silver medallist and winner of four legs of Diamond League Series this year, did not have to exert much in the end to clinch the gold. Another Indian in the women’s 400m final, Nirmala Sheoran finished fourth in 52.96.
In men’s 400m final, Anas clocked 45.69 seconds to clinch the silver. The gold was won by Hassan Abdalelah of Qatar in 44.89 seconds.
