Paris: The Indian athletics delegation at the ongoing Paris Olympics concluded its campaign in the men's 4x400 m relay race, narrowly missing out on a medal position, finishing in fifth and eleventh overall in the qualification round on Friday.
The Indian men's team achieved their season's best time of 3:00.58 in the second heat of the round one, securing the fourth spot in their heat and eleventh overall. The qualification process for the final round is reserved for the top three teams in each heat race, along with the next two fastest teams from both heats.
The Indian team was represented by Amoj Jacob, Rajesh Ramesh, Muhammed Ajmal, and Muhammed Anast. Meanwhile, Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan chose to sit out. Muhammed Ajmal emerged as the fastest Indian runner, with a time of 44.60 seconds.
France (2:59.53), Nigeria (2:59.81), and Belgium (2:59.84) outperformed the Indians, advancing to the final from heat two, as reported by Olympics.com.
In the first heat, Botswana (2:57.76), Great Britain (2:58.88), the USA (2:59.15), Japan (2:59.48), and Zambia (3:00.08) secured their places in the final.
The Indian women's quartet of Jyothika Sri Dandi, Machettira Raju Poovamma, Vithya Ramraj, and Subha Venkatesan recorded timings of 3:32.51 in the first round of the women's 4x400 m relay event. However, these times only guaranteed them the eighth spot in their heat and fifteenth overall, missing out on the final. Jyothika Sri Dandi was the fastest Indian runner among all, achieving a time of 51.30 seconds.
A significant achievement for India in the athletics events was Neeraj Chopra, who secured a silver medal in the men's javelin throw final. Chopra fell short of retaining his gold medal in the men's javelin throw at the current event, settling for silver with a best throw of 89.45 meters.
Nadeem won gold with a throw of 92.97 meters, setting a new Olympic record and surpassing the mark set by Andreas Thorkildsen of Denmark in Beijing 2008. Grenada's Anderson Peters won bronze with a throw of 88.54 meters.
Earlier, Chopra had achieved a throw of 89.34 meters in the Group B qualification round, which remains his second-best all-time throw. Despite a competitive rivalry with Nadeem, where Chopra led 9-0 in their head-to-head matchups, Nadeem's throw of 90.18 meters at the 2022 Commonwealth Games surpassed Chopra's best effort.
Grenada's Anderson Peters secured the bronze with a throw of 88.54 meters.
