Defending champion Sinimol Paulose fetched the first gold medal for India at the third Asian Indoor Athletics Championships by winning the 1500 metres title in Doha on Thursday.

Paulose clocked 4:15.42 seconds and qualified for the World Indoor Championships as her timings was better than the benchmark set at 4:16.00s.

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Sushma Devi, the other Indian in the fray in the event contested only by four athletes, won the silver but missed on the World Championships berth as she travelled the distance in 4:22.78s.

Bahrain's Sara Yaqoob Bekheet won the bronze in 4:26.70s.

Photograph: Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images