World Athletics U20 Championships: India qualify for 4x400m mixed relay final

Representational Image (Pic: AFP)

The Indian quartet of Jay Kumar, Neeru Pahtak, Rihan Chaudhary and Sandramol Sabu qualified for the 4x400m mixed relay final after finishing overall third among 20 competing teams at the World Athletics U20 Championships on Tuesday.

The Indians clocked their season best performance of 3:22.54s to finish second in heat one and overall third.

Australia's Jordan Gilbert, Bella Pasquali, Jack Deguara and Sophia Gregorevic topped the standings with a timing of 3:21.10.

Polish quartet of Michał Kijewski, Wiktoria Gajosz, Stanisław Strzelecki and Zofia Tomczyk recorded the overall second best timing with a season best effort of 3:21.92s.

A total of 23 athletes took part in men's events while 20 will be playing in women's competitions. India will also be competing in the 4 x 400 m mixed relay race, as per Olympics.com.

Dipanshu Sharma, the current Asian U20 champion in men's javelin throw, will be a key player for India. India secured a total of seven medals at the Asian Championships held in Dubai this year back in April.

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Anurag Singh Kaler (shot put), Ranvir Singh (3000m steeplechase), Harshit Kumar (hammer throw), Pavana Nagaraj (long jump), Ekta Dey (3000m steeplechase) and the women's 4x400m relay team also secured gold medals at the Asian Championships and will now be playing in track and field events at Peru as well.

Bapi Hansda, will be participating in the 4x400m relay and the 400m events after recovering from dengue, which caused him to miss the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in April.

At Cali U20 World Athletics Championships 2022, India secured two silver medals (Selva Thirumaran in triple jump and mixed 4x400m relay) and one bronze medal (Rupal Chaudhary in 400m).

The USA finished at the top of the medal tally back in the 2022 World Championships with 15 medals - seven gold, four silver and four bronze.

Many Indian athletes have played in this championships in their athletics journey over the years. Notably, the Olympic gold medalist and current world champion in javelin throw, was the first-ever Indian to secure the U20 title. Back in 2016, Neeraj registered a junior javelin record of 86.48m to get the gold medal.

Hima Das was another player to secure a gold for India at event, in the 400 m race back in the 2018 Tampere Championships.

(With agency inputs)