The Indian men's and women's 4x400m relay race teams virtually qualified for Rio Olympics after clocking impressive timings at the 3rd Indian Grand Prix athletics event in Bangalore on Sunday.
Quartermiler Ashwini Akkunji, who early this month completed her two-year ban period for a doping offence, is contemplating to run in the women's 4x400m relay trials on July 20 for a place in the Indian quartet for next month's World Athletics Championships in Moscow.
India clinched a gold medal in women's 4x 400m relay in a sensational race to finish sixth overall as the curtains were drawn on the 20th Asian Athletics Championships in Pune on Sunday.
India's 4x400m women's relay team on Thursday clinched its fifth consecutive gold medal in the Asian Games in Jakarta to maintain a remarkable domination in this event in the continental showpiece.
The quartet of Rajwinder Kaur, Chitra Soman, Manjit Kaur and Pinki Parmanik completed the race in 3:29.57
Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary finished sixth in the heats and the women's 4x400m relay team last as India's campaign in the World Athletics Championships ended in Moscow on Friday.
the silver lining is that the men's 4x400m relay team is set to qualify for the World Championships as it is placed at 14th out of 16 to make the cut.
India concluded its campaign at the inaugural Asian U23 Athletics Championships with a total of 16 medals, including two gold medals won by javelin thrower Anand Singh and the women's 4x400m relay team. Anand Singh achieved a personal best throw of 80.57m, while other Indian athletes secured multiple silver and bronze medals across various events.
The United States continued their dominance of the Olympic 4x400 metres relay on Saturday but only just, as Rai Benjamin held off Botswana's Letsile Tebogo in a thrilling last-leg battle between two individual gold medallists.
The women's 4x400m relay quartet lived up to their expectations by clinching a gold after a brilliant race as India ended their athletics campaign with an impressive haul of 13 medals in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon on Thursday.
India's athletics contingent secured a gold medal in the women's 4x100m relay at the Asian Relays Championships in Shaoxing, China, clocking a season-best time.
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"The men's 4x400m relay team had a good start. Muhammad Anas clocked 45.93 seconds in the first leg, but the second runner -- Rajesh Ramesh -- fell down due to cramps in leg muscles at the first bend," read a statement from the Athletics Federation of India.
India finished sixth overall across the two heats with Botswana 3:05.11s being the quickest.
The men's quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Santosh Kumar, Mijo Chacko Kurian and Arokia Rajiv also failed to stand on top of the podium as they clocked 3:05.76 to finish second behind Sri Lanka (3:04.48). Vietnam was third with 3:07.37.
A 21-member Indian athletics team, led by Animesh Kujur, will participate in five events at the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana. The team includes eight women and will focus on events including the mixed relays and men's relays.
Botswana created history by becoming the first African nation to win the men's 4x400 metres relay World title.
The quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Tom Noah Nirmal, Rajiv Arokia and Amoj Jacob finished fourth in the second heat with a timing of 3:00.25 seconds, but missed qualifying for the eight-team final by a whisker as they ended up ninth overall.
India has announced a 36-member squad, comprising 23 men and 13 women, for the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, USA, from August 5 to 9. The team includes national record holder Pooja Singh and long jumper Shahnavaz Khan, and will compete across 18 track and field events.
India concluded their campaign at the 22nd Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, securing second place with a total of 19 medals, including 10 gold, 5 silver, and 4 bronze.
India's men's 4x400m and mixed 4x100m relay teams delivered impressive performances at the International Invitation Relay Competition in Chandigarh, significantly improving their chances of qualifying for the World Athletics Relays in Botswana. However, the men's 4x100m team faced disappointment due to a disqualification.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has announced a 48-member Indian team for the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, featuring talented athletes like Shahnavaz Khan, Mohammed Ashfaq, and Pooja.
India's top sprinters are set to compete in the International Invitation Relay Competition in Chandigarh, aiming to qualify for the World Athletics Relays in Botswana. Several national relay teams are hoping to secure their place at the World Relays in Gaborone.
Hima dropped out midway through her 400m heats on April 21 at the Asian Championships due to lower back spasm and she was later ruled out of the women's 4x400m relay and mixed 4x400m relay races.
The Indian 4x400m women's relay team, led by Jauna Murmu, Ashwini Akkunji, Anilda Thomas and MR Poovamma, clocked 3.31.39sec to win the gold medal at the PTS Athletics Meeting in Samorin, Slovakia. Only 16 countries are eligible to compete in the relay events of track and field at the Rio Olympics, and as a result of their performance in Slovakia last night, India has improved its 4x400m women quartet's world ranking to 15th position which is a step towards that goal. As per the IAAF regulations, the 2016 OG qualification standards has to be attained between the period, January 1, 2016 to July 11, 2016. The Samorin performance is the Indian relay quartet's second fastest timing and improves its average from two-fastest races to 3:30.24sec.
India now have 19 Paris-bound track and field athletes and the list includes defending javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra among others.
The Indians will have another chance on Sunday to make the cut for the Tokyo World Championships.
Russia was stripped of their women's 4 x 400m relay silver medal from the London 2012 Olympics after Antonina Krivoshapka tested positive for drugs in the re-testing of her sample, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday.
A low-down on the eight runners -- four men and four women -- who finished second in their qualifying heats to make the Olympic cut.
Basant Kumar Meghwal and Shahnavaz Khan became the first Indians to win a medal each in high jump and long jump at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships.
India's World Athletics Relays campaign ended in disappointment as athletes sustained injuries and faced coordination issues, hindering their chances of qualifying for the 2027 World Championships.
India continued their stranglehold in women's 4x400m relay event in the Asian Games as its quartet ran a brilliant race to win the gold for the fourth time on the trot in Games record time in the 17th edition in Incheon on Thursday.
'if my body is giving me company why should I stop the sport? Some foreign athletes run till 35 or 37. So I wanted to set an example for other athletes that age does not matter,' says MR Poovamma, Arjuna Awardee and the senior-most member of the Paris Olympics-bound Indian women's 4x400m relay team.
Monday's timing will put India in the 21st place in the Road to Paris list of World Athletics while the aim was to be either in the 15th or 16th spot. India, thus, is in a difficult position to make the Paris cut.
India made a strong start at the Asian U-23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China, securing five medals on the opening day. The haul included a gold in the mixed 4x400m relay, one silver, and three bronze medals, showcasing the nation's emerging talent in athletics.
The team couldn't maintain the momentum on the anchor leg.
India will send 117 athletes to the Paris Olympics, starting July 26 in the French capital. This will be India's second-biggest contingent at an Olympic Games after 121 athletes went to Tokyo in 2021. A total of 47 female and 70 male athletes will be part of the Indian contingent at the Games.
Manisha Kumari created history as the first athlete from Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur district to win gold in an international event when she triumphed in the women's 4x400m relay at the South Asian Athletics Championships.
Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra has lauded the performance of Indian junior athletes at the World Athletics U20 Championships in the USA, where they secured two silver and one bronze medal.
Asian Games gold-winning quarter-miler VK Vismaya has been suspended for two years by NADA after testing positive for a banned substance, while sprinter N Shanmuga Srinivas received a four-year ban for evading sample collection.
