4x400x4

The Indian women's 4x400 metres team created history on Thursday by winning a fourth straight Asian Games gold. What's more, they also smashed the Games record.

The quartet of Priyanka Pawar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and MR Poovamma won an easy race in 3:28.68 to better the previous mark of 3:29.02, set —incredibly enough — by the gold-winning Indian team at the Guangzhou Asiad four years ago. For the record, Japan won the silver in 3:30.80, while China bagged the bronze in 3:32.02.

India ended athletics campaign with 13 medals (2 gold, 3 silver, 8 bronze), one more than their tally in Guangzhou. That said, they won three gold medals fewer than in 2010.

By winning gold in relay, India continued their stranglehold in this event. The country has been winning gold in this event since the 2002 Busan Games.

On Thursday, it was Luka who ran a brilliant second leg after Pawar came in fourth. The third leg, run by Kaur, saw India maintain a slender lead. And then, Poovamma took over in some style.

"We were confident of winning the gold, in fact we were targeting the Games record," Luka said. "When Mandeep came in, I think we had a two-metre lead and the plan was to go all out. We had run a very fast race in the trials in Patiala earlier so, we were sure of the gold and the record," said Poovamma. "That Commonwealth Games baton drop did not cross our mind at all…such things happen but today, we were high on confidence."