Bangkok – 21 May 2024:
Four of the five finals were held on a rain-soaked second day of the inaugural Asian Relay Championships, which concluded at National Stadium here on Tuesday evening. The two days of competitions also included separate races for Thai Youth athletes. The opening session on Monday witnessed only the “Universal” category competing in the 4 x 400m relay. As many as five new national records have been created in the longer relay races, three by teams from Vietnam, while India and Qatar accounted for the other two. The following is the event-wise review from the above championships.
Mixed 4 x 400m Relay:
Held on the first day (20 May) of the championships. Sri Lanka’s Aruna Dharshana (46.12 secs) tried to give an edge to his team in front of India’s Muhammed Ajmal (46.18s). In the second leg, Jyothika Sri overtook Sayuri Mendis at 600m and the Indian Team never looked back thereafter. The problem, however, came in the “closing-in” as Jyothika wasted some precious seconds getting into the inner lane. Amoj Jacob extended the lead in a fast-paced third leg, but after a brilliant final leg, anchor Subha Venkatesan slowed down a bit in the waning stages of the race. The quartet improved the national record to 3:14.12, but the wasted seconds cost them dearly and put them below the timing required to ensure a place in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. The Sri Lankans finished second in 3:17.00, while Vietnam took the bronze medal with a national record 3:18.45. The Qatari team also set a national best by clocking 3:34.97, despite finishing eighth.
Women’s 4 x 100m Relay:
After entering their designated lanes, the teams were called off to take shelter due to heavy downpours on the second day’s evening. The Chinese quartet included three of the four members from the gold-winning team from the Hangzhou Asian Games last year – Liang Xiaojiang, Wei Yongli, Yuan Qiqi – and Li Yuting, who took her national squad to victory in the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu made it formidable. The team from hosts Thailand tried its best to catch up with them but eventually finished second in 44.88 seconds as against the Chinese in 44.16s. The bronze went to Vietnam in 45.17s.
Men’s 4 x 100m Relay:
Inspired by the victory of their women’s team, Chinese men ran an excellent race in the sprint relay. Though their first exchange was a little slower, they quickly made amends and took the lead after that. Their star-studded men’s team includes Wu Zhiqiang, who ran the opening leg. The other three runners – Deng Zhijian, Yan Haibin, and Chen Jiapeng – were all part of the gold-winning World University Games team from Chengdu. The Korean team, especially their final leg runner Ko Seung-Hwan, made a desperate effort to snatch the lead, but Jiapeng flew like a bullet and conquered victory in 39.71 secs as the Koreans landed in a silver spot with 39.93s. The Hong Kong, China took the bronze in 40.14 secs.
Women’s 4 x 400m Relay:
India, who already made the cut to the Paris Olympics through the World Athletics Relays in Bahamas was the pre-race favourite. However, one could easily find the fatigue when the team took the starting block in the rain. Vithya Ramraj, the Asian Games bronze medalist in 400m hurdles and member of the silver winning 4 x 400m and Mixed relay squads in Hangzhou opened the race for them. But everyone in the National Stadium was amazed to see Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Ngoc run a superb first leg to give her team an enormous lead at the beginning. Incidentally, the Vietnamese were the gold medalists at the same venue last year in the Asian championships. Ngoc, along with Nguyen Thi Hang and Hoang Thi Minh Hanh, were in that winning squad. Quach Thi Lan, the Asian 400m champion in 2017 who added another gold with a victory over 400m hurdles in 2018 Asian Games at home was the fourth member of this strong team. Their coordinated effort brought a new national record in 3:30.81, along with the gold. The Indians claimed silver (3:33.55) and Japan got the bronze in 3:35.45.
Men’s 4 x 400m Relay:
The Indian men’s team, another Paris qualifier from the Bahamas, also had a misfortune this evening. Sri Lanka, which, like Vietnam, had a success story to tell from last year’s Asian championships here, once again proved its mettle. Aruna Dharshana, a member of last year’s winning team, led the proceedings as he handed over the baton first to Pasindu Kodikara. Santhosh Kumar overtook the Lankan runner and gave India a lead at the end of the second leg. Mijo Chacko Kurian maintained the lead in the next leg and handed the baton to Arokia Rajiv, the 400m Asian Games bronze medalist in 2014. However, Sri Lanka’s fantastic anchor Kalinga Kumarage, who was also a part of last year’s winning team in the National Stadium, increased his tempo to catch Arokia at the home straight to snatch the gold from the Indians. The Lankans clocked 3:04.48 as opposed to India’s 3:05.76. Once again, Vietnam took away the bronze with a new record time of 3:07.37.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for Asian Athletics
