Sudha, Neena and Dharun win three more silver medals in track and field

Indian long distance runner Sudha Singh on Monday clinched a silver in women’s 3,000m steeplechase in the Asian Games here.

Sudha clocked nine minutes and 40.03 seconds to win her second Asian Games medal.

Winfred Yavi of Bahrain took the gold in 9:36.52 while Thi Oanh Nguyen of Vietnam bagged the bronze in 9:43.83.

The 32-year-old Sudha had won a gold medal when women’s 3,000m steeplechase was introduced in the 2010 Asian Games.

Sudha has a personal best of 9:26.55 while her season’s best is 9:39.59 which she came up with during the National Inter-State Championships in June.

Earlier in the day, Dharun Ayyasamy won a silver in men’s 400m hurdles in national record time.

JAKARTA:Veteran

NATIONAL RECORD Ayyasamy clocked 48.96 seconds to shatter his own national record and finish behind Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba who won the gold with a Games record time of 47.66.

His earlier national record was 49.45 which he had come up with during the Federation Cup in March.

The 21-year-old from Tamil Nadu was fourth till the 300m mark but passed two competitors in the last 100m stretch to cross the finishing line in 48.96, his personal best mark.

It is India’s first medal in the event since Joseph Abraham won a gold in 2010.

Neena Varakil gave India another silver she came second in women’s long jump. Her best jump of 6.51m came in the fourth attempt, which was enough to fetch her silver. Thi Thu Thao Bui of Vietnam won gold with a Season’s Best jump of 6.55, which she managed in her first attempt. The bronze was bagged by Xiaoling Xu of China with an effort of 6.50. The other Indian in fray, James Nayana was way below the mark with an effort of 6.14. In fact, she could register just two successful attempts out of six.