Athletics
Asian Relay: Indian 4x400m mixed relay team create national record, win gold
Muhammad Ajmal, Jyothika Sri, Amoj Jacob and Subha Venkatesan created a new national record but missed out on a Paris Olympics qualification through the ranking route.
The Indian 4x400m mixed relay team of Muhammad Ajmal, Jyothika Sri, Amoj Jacob and Subha Venkatesan broke the national record en route to winning the gold medal at the Asian Relay Championships in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday.
The Indian quartet clocked 3:14.12 seconds, cutting down 0.22s from the previous NR.
Ajmal and Subha were part of the previous team that created the previous national record of 3:14.34 seconds at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023. Vithya Ramraj and Rajesh Ramesh were the other two members of the team back then.
The timing had helped India win the silver medal at the Asiad after Sri Lanka, who topped the race, was disqualified. Bahrain's silver was upgraded to gold.
Vithya and Rajesh pulled out of the Asian Relay Championships. Earlier this month, Vithya gave up the women's 400m hurdles at the 27th Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar after the start due to a back injury sustained at the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas.
Similarly, Ramesh picked up a hamstring injury in the same event while running the second leg of the men's 4x400m relay race.
Sri Lanka and Vietnam won silver and bronze medals behind India. While Sri Lanka clocked 3:17.00s, Vietnam managed 3:18.45s.
However, the Indian mixed 4x400m relay team remain out of two available quota places for the Paris Olympics. The Indian team are currently ranked 21st in the Road to Paris rankings, maintained by World Athletics. India needed to be in the 15th or 16th spot to qualify for the Paris Olympics through the ranking route.