Despite posting a season best on Saturday, day-one of the World Athletics Championships qualification round in Guangzhou, India’s mixed 4x400m and men’s 4x400m relay teams finished fifth in their respective events
The Indian contingent posted season best in men’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m relay on Day-One of the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China on Saturday.
Despite season best both the teams finished fifth in their respective events and weren’t able to book tickets to the Tokyo World Athletics Championships in September in Japan.
Top two teams in each of the heats qualified for the World Athletics from September 13 to 21 and finals of the World Relays on Sunday.
Those teams, including India that weren’t able to make the cut for Worlds on Saturday will get another chance on Sunday.
Indian athletes will however, get another chance to showcase their potential on Sunday to book their flights to Tokyo for the global competitions.
Running in heat four of men’s 4x400m relay, the Indian quartet of Santhosh Kumar TK, Manu TS, Vishal TK and Mohit Kumar clocked 3:03.92, a season best but that wasn’t enough to fetch a place in the top two and book tickets to Tokyo World Athletics Championships.
France topped the table in heat four with a time of 3:00.30, While Kenya battled it for second place with a time of 3:00.88.
USA missed out a berth for the Worlds as they finished third clocking 3:01.23. While Poland was fourth with 3:02.69
In heat 1, South Africa fought hard to win first place. China finished strong to earn second place.
Heat 2 saw Botswana taking the lead and Portugal finishing second. Belgium won first position in Heat 3, while Great Britain finished second.
Earlier during the competition, the Indian mixed 4x400m relay team finished fifth in heat 3 and missed out on a chance to qualify for the Worlds in Japan. The team of Jay Kumar, Sneha K, Dharamveer Choudhary and Rupal Chaudhary clocked season best time of 3:16.85.
Belgium, Australia, USA, Ireland, Great Britain and South Africa were the teams who qualified for the World Athletics Championships.
“This competition in Guangzhou provided exposure and development of the athletes for the future,” India’s foreign coach Jerry Lee Holness said.
