Indian Relay Teams Eye Three Paris Olympics Spots At World Athletics Relays In Bahamas
New Delhi: India will be eyeing to earn three 400m relay quota places at the Paris Olympics when a 15-member squad walks the track at the World Athletics Relays on May 4 and 5 in Nassau in Bahamas. Although the competition will be held in five categories, India have fielded teams only in men’s, women’s and mixed events. The other two events are men’s 4x100m and women’s 4x100m. The two-day competition, which is a qualifying event for relay teams to book their tickets to Paris, will be held at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium.
The Indian team will be spearheaded by the quartet of Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Anas Yahiya, Muhammad Ajmal and Rajesh Ramesh, who won Asian Games 2023 gold in men’s 4x400m relay. With a timing of 2:59.05s, they also hold the men’s 4x400m national and Asian records, which was logged at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last year.
Meanwhile, India’s seven-member women’s 4x400m relay team includes Asian Games 2023 silver medal-winning quartet of Vithya Ramraj, Aishwarya Mishra, Prachi and Subha Venkatesan. Veteran runner MR Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Rupal are the other members.
Indian Squad at the World Relays 2024
Men’s 4x400m: Amoj Jacob, Avinash Krishna Kumar, Rajiv Arokia, Rajesh Ramesh, Noah Nirmal Tom, Muhammad Ajmal, Muhammad Anas, Yashas
Women’s 4x400m: Jyothika Sri Dandi, MR Poovamma, Aishwarya Mishra, Prachi, Vithya Ramraj, Rupal, Subha Venkatesan
Mixed 4x400m: Jyothika Sri Dandi, Vithya Ramraj, Rupal, Amoj Jacob, Rajesh Ramesh, Yashas
The top 14 teams will be advancing to the Paris Olympics main event to represent their respective countries where 16 teams will compete in each event. The remaining two teams will be decided based on top lists during the qualification period (December 31, 2022, to June 30, 2024).
The top two teams in each heat will secure the Paris Olympics qualification while also advancing to the final on the second day. The Olympic lane seeding positions will be decided on the final day. The teams that didn’t qualify on the first day will have another chance on the second day and the top two teams from each heat will also qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.