Golden day for india in Asian Games, win 3 Gold

Taking Indian athletics to a new high, Joseph Abraham and Ashwini Chidananda on Thursday grabbed gold medals in the men's and women's 400m hurdles, an unprecedented feat for any country at the Asian Games. Hurdler Ashwini Chidananda stole the limelight with a gold medal while the Indian men's hockey team and talented middle distance runner Tintu Luka bagged the bronze as India added four more medals to their kitty on the 13th day of competitions in the 16th Asian Games. Joseph and Ashwini raced to glory on an action-packed evening to give India a golden double in a single athletics for the first since 1978 Bangkok Asian Games when the county had won both 800m men's and women's gold medals.
Striding smoothly over the low hurdles, long-legged Ashwini stepped on the gas on the final straight to clinch the gold with a personal best of 56.15secs, clipping 0.28secs off her own previous high of 56.43 which she clocked in the qualifying heats. Ashwini's victory is significant as she had started concentrated on hurdles just recently. Just a few minutes after Aswhini's triumph, the 29-year-old Joseph, hailing from Kottayam district in Kerala, made it a historic 400m hurdles golden double by edging past his other rivals in a very tight finish.