Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 5: 

The Indian 4x400m women's relay team, led by Odisha’s Jauna Murmu, Ashwini Akkunji, Anilda Thomas and MR Poovamma last night bagged the gold medal at the PTS athletics meet being held in Slovakia’s Samorin.

Pic Courtesy: www.wsj.com Pic Courtesy: www.wsj.com

The quartet clocked 3.31.39sec to win the gold medal at the championship.

The win has brought India closer to the Rio Olympics as it improves the team’s world ranking to 15th position.

Only 16 countries are eligible to compete in the relay events of track and field at the Rio Olympics scheduled to be held in August this year.

The team is next scheduled to participate in Turkey's Erzurum on June 11-12.