Tintu Luka claims 800m silver in Asiad

Tintu Luka (centre) competes during the women's 800m heats at the Asian Games in Incheon. She won the silver on Wednesday.

Indian sprinter Tintu Luka clocked her season’s best to clinch a silver medal in the 800m women’s race of the 17th Asian Games in Incheon on Wednesday.

Luka clocked 1:59.19s to better the bronze medal she had won in this event in the previous edition of the Games in Guangzhou.

The gold was won by Kazakhstan’s Mukasheva Margarita, who broke the two-decade-old Games record of 1:59.85s with a timing of 1:59.02s.

China’s Zhao Jing settled for the bronze medal after finishing the race in 1:59.48s, which also happened to be her personal best.

The other Indian in fray, Sushma Devi ended fourth with a personal best timing of 2:01.92.

The previous Games record was held by China’s Qu Yunxia.