Athletics
Men’s 4x400m relay team included in TOPS for Paris Olympics
The men's 4x400m relay team, featuring Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Ajmal, Muhammad Anas Yahiya and Rajesh Ramesh, finished fifth in the World Athletics Championships.
India's 4x400m men's relay team of Rajesh Ramesh, Muhammad Ajmal, Amoj Jacob, and Muhammad Anas Yahiya created new national and Asian records at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
India's men's relay team has been added to the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) ahead of next year's Olympic Games in Paris, reported Hindustan Times. The relay team created an Asian record and finished fifth in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, clocking a sub-3 minutes time.
The men's 4x400m relay team is made up of Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Ajmal, Muhammad Anas Yahiya and Rajesh Ramesh. The quartet is currently back in the national relay training camp in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Mijo Chacko Kurian and Arul Rajalingham are the two other members of the relay squad.
The Sports Authority of India last week cleared their funding through Mission Olympic Cell.
Under the TOPS, the athletes will get special training and foreign exposure trips. The government will also bear the expenses of their equipment, fitness and participation in international competitions.
At the World Championships, the men's relay team of Jacob, Ajmal, Anas Yahiya and Rajesh clocked 2:59.05 seconds in the heats to finish second behind the USA, who clocked 2:58.47s. With this performance, the Indians broke the Asian record held by Japan (2:59.51s).
It was the first time the Indian men's 4x400m relay team had qualified for the final of the World Championships. In the final, the Indians clocked another sub-3-minute time (2:59.92s) to return home with an impressive fifth-place finish.
The latest achievement by the Indians also eclipsed the national record of 3:00.25s, which had been set in 2021.
