CHENNAI: It was a day of mixed emotions for the quartet of Muhammed Anas, Noah Nirmal Tom, Arokia Rajiv and Amoj Jacob. Part of the Indian men’s 4x400m relay team that hit the track on Friday night, they failed to advance to the final, scheduled to be held on Saturday night at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. The source of comfort was that they managed to break the Asian record by completing the relay in 3:00.25 minutes, bettering Qatar’s mark of 3:00.56 minutes achieved at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
The Indians were part of Heat 2 and finished fourth behind Poland, Jamaica and Belgium. In Heat 1, United States, Botswana, Trinidad & Tobago, Italy and Netherlands all finished with timings under three minutes. With the top three teams from both the heats and the next two best-placed teams making it to the final, India lost out to the men from Netherlands, who deserved their place in the final given that they were better than the Indians by more than a minute.
While the Indians managed to better their previous best, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille Sumariwalla was left feeling a tad disappointed. He was expecting a timing of below three minutes from the men’s relay team.
“I am not too happy. I was expecting them to achieve a mark below 3 minutes. But it is fine. At least, they have bettered their personal best and broken the Asian record. That is what I expect from all our athletes and that is what I have repeatedly stressed. When they come to the Olympics, they should be doing better than what they do in national events or equal their personal best,” Sumariwalla told this daily on Friday.
The AFI boss had said before the marquee event that athletes who fail to better or match their personal best in Tokyo will be judged harshly. A comprehensive review will be carried out once the athletes return from Tokyo. “We will analyse how the athletes fared once we come back home. We will speak to all the athletes and their coaches and then decide the way forward,” he said.