Indian women's and men's 4x400m relay teams qualify for Paris Olympics

The Indian men's and women's 4x400m relay teams, in a remarkable achievement, secured their qualification for the Paris Olympics at the World Athletics Relays.

On Sunday, the men's quartet of Muhammed Anas, Muhammed Ajmal, Arokia Rajv, and Amoj Jacob clocked a season-best timing of 3:03.23, finishing behind the USA but ahead of Mexico and Kenya to confirm their automatic qualification.

The women's team, comprising Rupal Chaudhary, MR Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi, and Subha Venkatesan, also made the most of the second-chance opportunity. They registered a timing of 3:29.35, finishing behind Jamaica but ahead of Brazil, Germany, and Colombia to book their Paris Olympics berth.

The mixed 4x400m relay team did not start in the second round of qualifying, presumably to ensure the men's and women's squads were fresh for their final chance to qualify.

The performances came after a mixed outing on Saturday during the Olympic Qualifying Round 1. While there were high expectations on the Indian teams after their impressive showings at the Budapest World Championships, Rajesh Ramesh, who had run a memorable anchor leg in Budapest, pulled up with an injury in the second leg of the men's race, resulting in no timing being registered.