Asian Games: India win gold in 4x400m women's relay

India maintained their stranglehold on the women's 4x400 metres relay at the Asian Games, winning gold for the fourth time on the trot in a Games' record time, in Incheon, on Thursday.

Complete coverage: 2014 Asian Games

Medals tally: 2014 Asian Games

The quartet of Priyanka Panwar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and M R Poovamma won in 3:28.68 seconds, improving upon the earlier Games record of 3:29.02s, which was also in the name of the gold-winning Indian team in 2010.

This is India's second gold from athletics, after Seema Punia's in the women's discus throw.

Japan won silver with a timing of 3:30.80s, while China bagged bronze in 3:32.02s.

India's first lap runner, Panwar, lagged behind her Japanese counterpart, but Luka, who won silver in the 800 metres, ran a brilliant race to recover lost ground.

She gave the team a slender lead after two laps before Mandeep widened it in the third, staving off a strong challenge from her Japanese counterpart.

Poovamma, who won a bronze in the 400 metres, then anchored India to gold with a rousing finish.

This is the fourth time India bagged gold in the women's 4x400m relay at the Asian Games; the country has won the event since the 2002 Busan Asiad.

Mandeep Kaur, who ran an impressive third leg was part of that gold-winning quartet in the 2010 Guangzhou Games.