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BANGKOK — Already qualified for the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the Indian men's and women's 4x400m relay teams could only finish with silver medals in the inaugural edition of the Asian Relay Championships 2024 on Tuesday.
After the Mixed Relay Team's record-setting run here that fetched it a gold medal, expectations were high that the men's and women's teams would also emerge as champions ahead of the Paris Olympic Games. Heavy rains in Bangkok also seem to have had an impact on their run. The men’s relay quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, T. Santosh Kumar, Mijo Chacko Kurian, and Arokia Rajiv clocked 3:05.76 amidst heavy rains in Bangkok to finish behind the Sri Lanka team, which ended with a time of 3:04.48.
The Vietnam (3:07.37) edged out Qatar to secure the bronze medal.
The quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal, and Rajesh Ramesh hold the existing Indian national record of 2:59.05 in the event. It is also the standing Asian record.
Meanwhile, India’s challenge in the women’s 4x400m relay race was fronted by Vithya Ramraj, MR Poovamma, Rupal, and Prachi Choudhary. The four timed their run at 3:33.55 seconds only to be outdone by the Vietnamese quartet, who created a new national record of 3:30.81 seconds to win the gold medal. Japan bagged the bronze after finishing the course in 3:36.56.
The Indian men's and women's relay teams bagged their berths in the Olympic qualifiers by finishing second in their heats in the World Relays in the Bahamas.