Punjab police officer Manjeet Kaur, continental champion at Incheon (Korea), last year, ran a below-par race but managed to win a silver medal in the women's 400m race of the athletic competition at the Asian Games in Doha on Sunday.
Manjeet clocked 52.17 sec to finish second while Kazakhstan's Olga Tereshkova won the gold with 51.86 and Japan's Asami Tanno took a bronze with a timing of 53.04.
Another strong contender Pinki Paramanik finished fourth with a timing of 53.06. Pinki got a bit rattled after being warned for the false start and when the race started, she took off a fraction of second late and that made all the difference.
Twenty four-year-old Jalandhar-based Manjeet, who had a personal best time of 51.03 and season's best of 52.06 which she timed during the trials in New Delhi prior to the departure for the Asiad, ran a good race in a very lackluster field.
The race was hardly exciting as once Olga took the lead, she maintained it throughout. Though the Indian tried hard, she gave up near the home stretch as the Kazakh increased the lead.
Pinki charged midway through the race but her attempt was futile and she finished fourth.
Earlier in women's 200m first-round heat, India's K Chitra failed to qualify as she timed a below-par 24.74 to finish fourth in a six-runner field.
Chitra's personal best is 24.04 sec and a repeat of that would have enabled her to qualify as the first two qualifiers Guzel Khubbieva of Uzbekistan and Japan's Sakie Nobuoka timed 23.54 and 24.56 respectively.
