NAGOYA: The Indian tricolour finally fluttered and the national anthem was sung at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games' showpiece venue on Tuesday after the women's 4x400m relay team ended days of waiting for an athletics gold medal, fittingly in an event in which the country had enjoyed overwhelming domination over the last three decades.

The team comprising Kiran Pahal, M R Poovamma, Prachi Chaudhary and Vithya Ramraj produced an exceptional performance to claim the gold medal on the concluding day of the athletics competition at the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium here.

The stadium had staged the opening ceremony with Japan's Emperor Naruhito inaugurating the Games in the presence of International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry and Olympic Council of Asia chief Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani on September 19. The closing ceremony of the Games will be held on October 4 at the same venue.

It has been a wait of six days for the athletics contingent for a gold medal and the Indian quartet finally delivered in the penultimate event of the competition, clocking 3 minutes and 29.69 seconds. Bahrain (3:30.21) and China (3:31.02) finished second and third respectively.

Gulveer Singh won another bronze in the men's 5000m race, his third in this Asian Games, becoming only the second male representing India to win three athletics medal in a single edition of the continental event.

High jumper Pooja Singh, the mixed 4x100m relay team and the men's 4x400m relay quartet also won a bronze each for a five-medal haul on the day.

India thus won 24 medals (1 gold, 9 silver, 14 bronze) from the athletics competition in the Games.

India had won Asian Games gold in the women's 4x400m relay from 2002 to 2018 before settling for a silver in the last edition in China. Before that, the country won gold in 1986 and silver medals in 1982, 1990, 1994 and 1998.

The 36-year-old Poovamma, the most experienced member of the quartet, was also part of the gold-winning teams in 2014 and 2018.

In the last leg, India was at third initially but Vithya overtook Chinese runner Zuo Siyu at the bend. She then held off a strong challenge from Bahrain's last leg runner Salwa Naser, the individual 400m event gold winner, and raised both her hands as soon as she crossed the finish line.

"Everybody has been saying that there is no gold medal in athletics, so we were motivated to win the gold for the country. We have done that and we are proud of that," Prachi said.

"And last time (in China) when I was a part of the relay team, we got a silver medal. At that time we thought that next time we will won a gold medal in Asian Games. So that was also our motivation."

"There was pressure on me because I ran the first leg and if I don't run well, there will be more pressure on the other three runners. I gave my 100 per cent and they (other three) gave 200 per cent. That is why we won gold."

"We were not leading, so I had to get more. I overtook one and then two. Then the finish line came. My teammates gave the distance. Salwa is a 48 second runner. She will easily catch me, she has the capacity to do that," Vithya said.

"But my teammates did really great. Because of them only she (Salwa) didn't catch me. I maintained the gap because of them only."

Earlier, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, SS Sneha and Harita Bhadra won the bronze medal in the 4x100m mixed relay final after clocking a season best time of 41.06 seconds. The event was introduced for the first time in the Asian Games.

High jumper Pooja Singh fared well below her personal best with a leap of 1.84m but that was enough to clinch a bronze medal in women's high jump. She holds the national record of 1.93m.

This was after Gulveer continued his spectacular run of form by winning a bronze medal in men's 5000m with a time of 13:32.75, completing a hat-trick of podium finishes in the Japanese city.

Gulveer had earlier won silver medals in men's 1500m and 10000m events.

Gulveer thus became the second Indian man and fourth from the country to win three medals in track and field events in a single edition of the continental Games. Before Gulveer, Lavy Pinto (New Delhi 1951, 3 medals), PT Usha (Seoul, 1986, 4 medals) and KM Beenamol (Busan 2002, 3 medals) had achieved a similar feat.

In the day's last track and field event, Dharamveer Choudhary, T S Manu, Jay Kumar and Vishal TK clocked 3:01.61 to finish third behind Japan and Qatar in the men's 4x400m relay final.

In the women's hammer throw, Tanya Chaudhary finished fourth with a 65.35m throw, while compatriot Anushka Yadav ended fifth with 64.56.

Dev Kumar Meena created a national record in men's pole vault with an effort of 5.50m but that was only enough to take him to seventh position. Pooja Olla and Mohammed Afsal finished seventh and eighth respectively in men's and women's 800m race.