Indian men’s 4x400m team fails to finish World Relays heat race, second stage runner withdraws due to cramps

Second leg runner Rajesh Ramesh withdrew due to cramps as the Indian men’s 4x400m team failed to finish their heat race at the World Athletics Relays in Nassau on May 5 during the first round of Olympic qualifying from Paris.

The Indian quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Rajesh Ramesh, Muhammed Ajmal and Amoj Jacob had hoped to book a ticket to Paris by finishing in the top two in heat number four, but in utter disgust, Ramesh left the race midway while holding his left leg . Anas had already competed in the first stage.

“The men’s 4x400m relay team got off to a good start. Muhammad Anas clocked 45.93 seconds in the first leg but the second runner – Rajesh Ramesh – fell due to leg muscle cramps at the first turn,” Athletics Federation of India ( AFI) said in a statement.

Ramesh had competed in the 4x400m mixed event three hours before the men’s event.

India will get another chance on May 6 during the second round of Olympic qualifying, where all the other teams that finished outside the top two in their respective qualifiers on Sunday will try their luck for one more shot at the Paris Games. The forecast is that the teams will be divided into three heats and the top two in each of them will guarantee passage to Paris.

The same quartet set an Asian record of 2 minutes 59.05 seconds at the 2023 Budapest World Championships. India failed to overcome the heat round at the Tokyo Olympics.

India also failed to make it past the Paris Olympics in the women’s 4x400m and the mixed 4x400m relay on the first day of qualification. Both the Indian mixed 4x400m and women’s 4x400m teams will have to wait for the second round of Olympic qualifying on Monday.

In the mixed 4x400m event, the Indian quartet of Rajesh Ramesh, Rupal Chaudhary, Avinash Krishna Kumar and Jyothika Sri Dandi had a poor race to finish sixth in the second heat with a time of 3 minutes and 20.36 seconds.

Later, the Indian quartet comprising Vithya Ramraj, MR Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan finished fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 29.74 seconds.

The top two teams in each of the four heats here qualify for the Paris Olympics, which will be held from July 16 to August 11. The remaining teams in all heats will compete again on Monday in another qualifying round for six more places at the Paris Olympics.

The format is the same for all five relay events – men’s and women’s 4x100m, men’s and women’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m – held here.