A record-breaking Avinash Sable on Sunday became the first Indian man to win a gold medal in the 3000m steeplechase at the Asian Games here.

The 29-year-old national record holder thus earned India their first gold medal in athletics at the ongoing Games, completing the race in 8:19.50 seconds.

Sable rewrote the previous Asian Games record of 8:22.79, which was set by Iran's Hossein Keyhani at the 2018 Jakarta Games.

Sudha Singh had won gold in women's 3000m steeplechase in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.

On a day India won 15 medals across sports — their biggest haul in a single day of the Asian Games over all editions — athletics was the biggest contributor and Sable certainly the star, besides shot-putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, who defended his title with a gold finish.

Athletics fetched a total of nine podium finishes on Sunday. India picked up two gold, four silver and three bronze medals on the day.

The 29-year-old Sable's time, however, was well below his national record of 8:11.20 and season's best of 8:11.63.

In the 1500m for women, flamboyant Harmilan Bains won a silver with a time of 4: 12.74 seconds while Ajay Kumar Saroj (3:38.94) and Jinson Johnson (3:39.74) won silver and bronze respectively in the men's 1500m.

Harmilan is not the only Asiad medal winner from her family. Her mother Madhuri Singh was the 2002 edition 800m silver winner.

In the women's heptathlon, Nandini Agasara took the bronze ahead of 2018 gold medallist Swapna Barman after winning the 800m race, the last of the gruelling seven-event competition. Nandini collected an aggregate of 5712 points while Barman secured 5708.

China's Zheng Ninali won the gold with 6149 points while Voronina Ekaterina of Uzbekistan was second with 6056.

Earlier, India's Amlan Borgohain finished third after clocking 21.08 seconds in the men's 200m heats and advanced to the semi-finals. The sprinter from Assam holds both the men's 100m and 200m national records.

With inputs from PTI