India’s 4x400m mixed relay team, on which the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has pinned hopes for a medal at the World Championships and the Olympics, won the gold in style with anchor leg runner Subha Venkatesan the only one in the frame as she crossed the finish line.
India led from start to finish and though the Chinese gave them a close fight in the third leg, Vishal TK pulled away strongly to hand over the baton to Subha with a good lead.
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The Indian quartet comprised Santhosh Kumar, Rupal Chaudhary, Vishal and Subha. They clocked 3 minutes and 18.12 seconds to defend the title from two years ago. Rupal also claimed the women’s individual 400m silver. Vishal posted a personal best in the 400m, but finished fourth.
Rupal said she could have done better if not for injuries in the lead-up to the Asian Championships.
“My training was going well. But then I had an injury. After that, I was a little worried. But the way my training and performance is going, I’m okay. But I’m not satisfied,” Rupal said. “My main target from now on is to fix the problems that I have. I have already done my personal best during training,”
Former AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said the performance of the relay team showed that India had enough depth.
“It’s not a fully rearranged team. Subha was there in the last team. Santosh was there in the reserves. So it is a mix of new and old. We need to look to the future,” Sumariwalla, who is also the Vice-President of World Athletics, said. “This team has shown we have a good reserve pool, we can perform given a chance.”
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At the end of the second day, India was third on the medal tally with two gold, four silver and two bronze.
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