Written by Harsh Shukla
On a pleasant evening in Budapest, Hungary, on August 27, India created history as the quartet of Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi, and Rajesh Ramesh finished a credible fifth in the 4x400m relay race final at the World Athletics Championships, clocking 2:59.92 seconds. It was the first time in the history of the championships that India made it to the final of the event, which was eventually won by the US (2:57:31), while France (2:58:45) and Great Britain (2:58:71) finished second and third respectively.
A day before, the Indian quartet had set an Asian record by clocking 2:59.05 to finish second only behind the US and sprint into the final. A cramp-stricken Rajesh, who had to be carried on a stretcher after the race, was brilliant in the anchor leg, almost matching his US counterpart step by step.
Buoyed by the impressive show at the Worlds, the Indian quartet will now eye a top podium finish at the Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, China, starting September 23. In Budapest, the Indian racers shattered the national record (3:00:25) set in 2021 by Muhammed Anas, Noah Nirmal Tom, Arokia Rajiv, and Amoj Jacob at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics twice.
The career of Rajesh, who worked as a ticket collector at Trichy, Kerala, in 2018, was halted by a series of injuries after the 2018 U20 World Championships. In his comeback race in May this year, he displayed an impressive performance by dominating the 400m semifinals at the Federation Cup held in Ranchi, clocking an impressive 46.13 seconds, which helped the Tamil Nadu racer meet the Athletics Federation of India's Asian Championships qualification standard of 46.17 seconds.
Born in Kerala, Muhammed Anas, who holds the national record in 400m which he created back in 2019, started his career as a long jumper before shifting to 400m. The shift proved beneficial for India as Anas went on to win the silver in the individual race before winning the team gold in the event at the 2018 Asian Games held in Indonesia.
Kerala racer Amoj Jacob specialises in 400m and 800m races. After showing early promise by winning a couple of medals at the Asian Junior Championships held in 2016, he went through a series of injuries after the 2018 Commonwealth Games held at Gold Coast, Australia. Amoj later made a strong comeback and was part of the Indian relay team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi, another racer from Kerala, is a footballer-turned-100m sprinter who later switched to 400m. Ajmal’s shift too proved useful as he went on to win the gold in 400m Inter-State Nationals in Bhubaneshwar earlier this year, clocking an impressive 45.51 seconds. All four will be seen in action at the Asian Games, where they will face a tough challenge from another Asian powerhouse, Japan.
“We will have less pressure in Hangzhou, and our efforts will be to further improve the Asian record we set at the Worlds,” said a confident Amoj Jacob.