Vithya Ramraj claimed a bronze in the women’s 400M hurdles at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Monday (September 28).
The 28-year-old clocked a personal best of 54.75sec to break a more than four-decade-old national record created by the legendary P T Usha.
The athlete from Coimbatore finished behind UAE’s Mariam Kareem, who won gold with a Games record 54.31sec and Kazakhstan’s Adelina Zems, who took silver with a personal best of 54.58sec.
Vithya bettered Usha’s 55.42sec effort that came in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Usha is currently heading the Indian Olympic Association and is in attendance at the Games.
It was the second medal at this edition of the Games for Ramraj following the silver in the 4x400m mixed relay event.
India’s Anu Raghavan finished fifth. She recorded a personal best of 55.88sec.