In the men’s 4x400m relay competition, the Indian team of Rajesh Ramesh, Rupal, Avinash Krishna Kumar, and Jyothika Sri Dandi was the first Indian team to take to the track. Unfortunately, they finished in sixth place with a time of 3:20.36 in heat 2.
In contrast, the Indian women’s 4x400m relay quartet of Vithya Ramraj, MR Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi, and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3:29.74 to finish fifth in heat 1. Despite missing out on an Olympic quota on Sunday, they will have another chance on Monday as all teams who did not make the finals will compete in an additional qualifying round. The top two teams from each heat will qualify for Paris 2024.
On the other hand, the Indian men’s 4x400m relay team consisting of Anas Yahiya, Rajesh Ramesh (who had previously won an Asian Games gold at Hangzhou), Ajmal and Jacob did not finish their race in heat 4. Anas ran a 45.93 in his opening split but unfortunately suffered an injury during his second leg. The quartet could only manage a seventh-place finish with a time of 3:31.76.
Despite this setback, Botswana and South Africa were able to secure Paris 2024 qualification with times of 2:59.73 and 2:59.76 respectively.
Overall, while there were some disappointing results for India in the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay events at World Athletics Relays Bahamas ’21’, there is still hope that they can secure spots for Paris ’24 through other means such as top lists during qualification period from December ’22 to June ’24 which will allocate two quotas based on performance.