Winning gold was the only motivation, Prachi says as India win women's 4x400m relay in Nagoya
Kiran Pahal, Prachi Singh, Vithya Ramraj and M R Povamma won the gold medal in the women's 400 M relay race at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on September 29, 2026. The quartet reclaimed the top spot after finishing with silver at the previous edition.
Indian women quartermilers have been a consistent source of medals on the continent, with the 4x400m relay side having taken gold consecutively from 2006 to 2018 before collecting silver last time. Two members of Tuesday's winning quartet had been part of that silver-medal team and, according to the report, carried the disappointment into a three-year campaign aimed at winning gold again, while they faced stiff opposition from China and Bahrain in Nagoya.
Prachi Chaudhary reflected on that motivation, saying, “Vithya [Ramraj] and I were part of the team last time and we got a silver. We had spoken about only returning with gold next time. That has been the only motivation for the last three years. When I went back with a silver last time, my father said, ‘maza nahi aya’. I am sure this time he will be happy (laughs).” It was described as the laugh of a champion from Saharanpur who had kept her promise to herself.
For Vithya Ramraj, the gold completed a sequence of medals at the Games: “Having already clinched a silver and bronze here, the gold was the icing on the cake for her.” She added: “It’s for all the women out there. On the track, it’s the Indian women who have won more medals. It shows there is no limit to what we can do. Everyone thought that an Indian cannot go below 55 seconds in 400m hurdles, but I managed it. Now, the target is sub-54. If others can do it, we can too.”
Vithya described the pressure she felt before running the anchor leg, saying, “Before my turn, I was waiting at the starting line for almost 2.5-3 minutes for the first three legs. There was so much going through my mind. I didn’t know what to do, there was so much pressure. I was thinking that I was running the last leg and that anything could happen... I was praying, thinking about my coach, watching the screen. When Prachi came on the straight, they kept calling me to take position but I was in my zone. They had to pull me into position.”
She recalled the decisive phase of the race at the 300m mark, saying, “At around the 300m mark and trailing the Chinese runner, I was thinking whether I should try and go past her. ‘Do I have the capability to finish the race, should I do it or not?’ I remembered my coach asking me to maintain the pace till the last 100m and go all out, so that’s what I did,” and the account notes that Vithya finally stopped to catch her breath. The celebrations, however, continued.
Prachi added a broader note about the relay tradition and its impact, saying, “Mostly, Indian girls have got relay gold, and we have done it again. I am sure it will be an inspiration to the juniors to continue this and for us to keep getting better.”