The Quartet of male sprinters shatter 15-year-old men’s national 4x100m relay record in India Open
India currently boast of an excellent bunch of male sprinters. Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain have run sub-10.30 secs in the 100m. On Wednesday, the quartet representing Reliance shattered a 15-year-old national record in the 4x100m relay, clocking 38.69s to win the India Open relay competition at Chandigarh. The previous national mark of 38.89s came while winning bronze at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games. The quartet has been in excellent form this season and came together to set a fresh bench-mark at Chandigarh’s Sector 7 Sports Complex. Gurindervir, who set the 100m national record (10.20s) this year, ran the first leg, and Animesh, the 200m national record holder with a 100m best of 10.27s, the second. Manikanta (100m best 10.22s) extended the lead with a brilliant bend run. Amlan, known for his powerful dash down the straight crossed the finish unchallenged. The Tamil Nadu quartet was second (39.83s) and the Army third (41.40s). For perspective, the Asian record set by Japan in 2019 is 37.43secs. At the 2023 Asian Championships, Thailand won gold at 38.55s, ahead of China (38.87 secs) and South Korea (38.99secs), which should raise Indian hopes of a podium finish at the coming continental meet. “We just believed in each other and our speed,” said Amlan. They will be part of India’s 4x100m relay team at the Asian Championships in South Korea in May. Federation Cup winner Pranav Gurav is also part of the relay squad. In women’s 4x400m relay, Sneha K, Rupal Chaudhary, Jisna Mathew, and Subha Venkatesan won clocking 3:32.64s. All four national campers are in the Asian Championships squad. Tamil Nadu’s Dhesikha V, N Mariea, Akshya Baskar, and Vithya Ramraj were second (3:40.85s).
