GUMI: India's 4x400m men's relay team, comprising Rince Joseph, Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil Saji, and Mohit Kumar, stormed into the final of the 26th Asian Athletics Championships with its best ever effort to top the heat on Thursday.

The quartet will start from lane five in the final slated later in the evening after clocking 3:06.28sec.

In the heats, India outpaced China (3:06.79) and hosts Korea (3:10.05) to secure direct qualification.

The final lineup includes strong contenders like Sri Lanka, China, and Kazakhstan, with Sri Lanka boasting of the season's fastest of 3:01.56.

In the women's 10,000m final, India's Sanjeevani Jadhav clocked a season's best of 33:08.17sec, finishing fifth, followed closely by Seema in sixth at 33:08.23sec.

The event was dominated by Daisy Jepkemei of Kazakhstan (30:48.44), ahead of Japan's Ririrak Hironika (30:56.32) and Mikuni Yada (31:12.21).

India has managed eight podium finishes so far in the continental showpiece, including two gold, four silver and two bronze medals