PHOTO: AP

SURPRISE PACK: On a day of fluctuating fortunes, the Indian quartet walked away with the silver.

Melbourne: Lady luck smiled on India as its women quartet won a providential silver medal in the eventful 4x400m relay event of the Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

In a bizarre relay, gold medal contender Jamaica dropped the baton and England was disqualified after crossing the tape first.

Australia got the gold and India, crossing the tape third, ended with silver, while Nigeria took the bronze.

Meanwhile, Jamaica finished fourth while South Africa was also disqualified.

Action aplenty

The last day of the athletic competition produced drama, excitements and lot of spills in the relay.

For India, Rajwinder Kaur led off and Chitra K. Soman followed. Till that stage, India was fighting for fourth to sixth places. With Jamaica dropping the baton, the Indians sensed a chance and Manjit Kaur in the penultimate leg swooped on the opportunity.

And finally, Pinki Parmanik, who ran the 800m semifinals, crossed the line third. The bronze was a matter of great joy, but it became ecstasy when it turned into silver after England's disqualification.

Sloppy exchange

Earlier, Jamaica seemed to be cruising in the 4x400m relay. Then came the sloppy exchange at the second handover and the baton was dropped. It took them a while to get it back into motion. But third runner Shellene Williams and anchor Shericka Williams gamely came back to finish the race and ended fourth.

Double for Jana

Australia's Jana Pittman, who won the 400m individual race, got a double bonanza as the squad ended winner in 3:28.66, with India almost a second behind in 3:29.57s. Nigeria ended third in 3:31.83 and Jamaica fourth in 3:34.91s.Jana ran the first leg and gave Australia the initial lead with the 80,000 people at the MCG cheering her on. But the next runner Caitlin Willis was outpaced by Jamaica's Novlene Williams. Then, as Williams went to pass the baton to the third Jamaican runner, Shellene Williams, it fell to the ground. It took Shellene a few seconds to find it and pass it on, by which time Jamaica had ruined its chances.

England disqualified

England, in the meantime, anchored by Christine Ohuruogu, finished first in 3:27.17 only to learn later that it had broken a lane early in the race and was disqualified.

Jamaica won the men's 4x100m relay, led by 100m champion Asafa Powell, who claimed a double crown as the Jamaicans timed 38.36 seconds.

Jamaicans win

Earlier, the Jamaicans won the women's 4x100m relay in 43.10. England clocked in just 0.33 seconds behind. The Australians were third with 44.25.

Gold medal favourite in 1,500m Craig Mottram was tripped and he fell to the ground in a dramatic 1500 metre race won by New Zealand's Nicholas Willis with a time of 3:38.49. — UNI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail