Rajiv, Povamma win bronze in men and women’s 400m

Agencies INCHEON, SEPTEMBER 28 INDIAN quartermilers Arokia Rajiv and M. Povamma Raju put up a fine show to clinch the bronze medals in the men and women’s 400 metre events, respectively, at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium in the 17th Asian Games here Sunday. Rajiv clocked a personal best of 45.92 secs to win the bronze while the gold medal went to Saudi Arabia’s Yousef Ahmed Masrahim, who set a Games Record of 44.46 secs. The silver was clinched by 18-year-old Abbas Abubakar of Bahrain with a timing of 45.62 secs. Masrahim had also set the Asian record of 44.43 secs in the Diamond League in Lausanne in July. Earlier, M R Poovamma also bagged bronze in the women’s 400m race . Poovamma clocked 52.36 seconds in the final race behind pre-match favourite Oluwakemi Adekoya (51.59 seconds) of Bahrain and Vietnam’s Thi Lan Quach (52.06 seconds) at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium here. 24-year-old Poovamma, who was the second fastest off the block in the final today, could not touch her personal and season’s best of 51.73 seconds which she clocked at the National Inter-State Championships in Lucknow in June. Thi Lan, the second worst off the block, overtook Poovamma to take the second place behind the Nigerian-born Bahrain runner, who is also the Asian season leader. The other Indian in the fray, Mandeep Kaur, finished sixth in the eight-competitor field with a timing of 53.38 seconds.