The Indian men’s 4x400 metres relay team qualified for the Rio Olympics to be held from August 5th when they clocked a timing of 3:00:91 at the third Indian Grand Prix held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. This puts the team in the second spot for fastest 4x400 relay timing in the world in 2016 behind the USA team who had clocked 3:00:38.
This timing puts the Indian relay team in the driving seat going into the Olympics. They have beaten the timings of even the Great Britain and the Jamaica team. The event was organised to get the athletes to qualify for the Olympics before the deadline date of 11 July 2016.
Before the event, the Secretary of Athletics Federation of India, C.K.Valson had said, “These two events are being held to facilitate more qualifications, so far 24 have qualified, which is the highest-ever. The relay teams are very close. Hopefully, they will qualify in this event.”
The qualification of the men’s team means that both the men’s and women’s relay teams have now qualified for the Olympics. There is a lot of hope from the Indian contingent in this year’s Olympics, and this excellent timing has raised the expectation levels of everyone involved.