Asian Games: Silver for Khushbir Kaur in women's 20km walk

Incheon, Sep 28 (IANS)

Khushbir Kaur opened India's medal account on day nine of competitions in the 17th Asian Games, finishing second to win the silver in the women's 20 kilometre race walk at the Race Walking Course here Sunday.

The Indian athlete finished two minutes and a second behind China's Xiuzhi Lu with a total time of an hour 33 minutes and seven seconds.

South Korea's Yeongeun Jeon took bronze, finishing the 20km race just 11 seconds behind the Indian.

Khushbir Kaur put in an impressive performance and was in third place for 90 percent of the race.

While Xiuzhi Lu was opening up a healthy lead up front, Khushbir never let the other Chinese -- in second place -- Nie Jingjing, get too far ahead.

The 21-year-old Indian picked up her speed in the latter stages of the race and overtook the Chinese to move into second.

Khushbir, though, was put under pressure by the South Korean, who was quickly closing in, but the Indian held on to give the country its second medal from athletics in Incheon.

China could have so easily had a one-two finish but shockingly Nie Jingjing, who was second till the 16th km suddenly lost all steam and tapered off to finish fourth, close to a minute and a half behind the third placed South Korean.

Xiuzhi Lu dominated the race and led from the start to finish.