Interstate Athletics Championships: Indian men's 4*400m relay team shine on day 1

At the Interstate Athletics Championships at NIS Patiala today, the Indian men's 4*400 relay team of Mohammad Anas, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, and Noah Nirmal Tom clocked a meet record time of 3:01.89 minutes to finish 1st in their heat.

This would have moved the Indian relay team up to the 13th spot in the Road to Tokyo for men's 4*400 relay qualifications had the Maldives been in the same heat as India's.

This would be marked as a huge blunder on the Athletics Federation of India. However, the Indian men's 4*400m relay team will be in high spirits for the finals of this event that will be held on the 29th of June.

Mohammad Anas gave the Indian team a rather subdued start as Amit Balayan of Haryana gave him a tough fight in the grueling 1st leg. But after the 1st exchange, the Indian team came on to their own as Amoj Jacob and Arokia Rajiv steadied the ship.

However, the best performance among the quartet was given by Noah Nirmal Tom, who blazed through a rather swift final leg. Now, the Indian relay team needs to repeat this performance on the 29th of June to ensure a Tokyo Olympics berth.

Women's 4*100m relay team put up a spirited performance at Interstate Athletics Championships

The Indian women's 4*100m relay team clocked a brisk 43.50-second timing in the heats of the Interstate Athletics Championships.

The quartet of Archana Suseentran, Hima Das, Dhanalakshmi and Dutee Chand had blazed through a national record timing of 43.37 seconds at the Indian Grand Prix 4 event earlier in the week.

However, a couple of rather sluggish baton exchanges from Archana to Hima and Dhanalakshmi to Dutee meant that they would not be able to better their national record timing from 4 days earlier.

The Indian women's relay team will get another opportunity to better their time in the finals of the Interstate Athletics Championships that will be held on the 29th of June.

Other important results from Day 1 of Interstate Athletics Championships

Apart from relay events, a total of six gold medals were distributed on Day 1 of the Interstate Athletics Championships 2021. Parul Chaudhary of Uttar Pradesh won the women's 5000m event with a timing of 16:04.07 minutes. In the women's 100m hurdles final, C Kanimozhi clocked a time of 13.66 seconds to win gold.

Manju Bala

2014 Asian games bronze medalist Manju Bala won a gold medal in the women's hammer throw, while Renu of Haryana won the women's triple jump title at the Interstate Athletics Championships.

In the men's event, Shekhar Kumar Pandey of Uttar Pradesh won a gold medal in Pole Vault. In the men's 10,000m event, Vikram Bharatsinh of Madhya Pradesh took the top honours.

Hima Das and Dutee Chand to star in women's 100m event tomorrow

Day 2 of the Interstate Athletics Championships will see Hima Das and Dutee Chand go head to head in the women's 100m event.

Other than that, Tejaswin Shankar will be eyeing to clear the 2.33 meters barrier to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in the men's high jump event. Other finals lined up for tomorrow at the Interstate Athletics Championships are the men's 100m, men's and women's 400m hurdles and the women's long jump to mention a few.

Overall, day 2 of the Interstate Athletics Championships promises to be action-packed.