Indian 4x400m relay team breaks Asian record but fails to qualify for final

The Indian men's 4x400m relay quartet shattered the Asian record during the Olympics heat race but missed qualifying for the final round by a whisker here on Friday.

The quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Tom Noah Nirmal, Rajiv Arokia and Amoj Jacob completed the race in 3:00.25sec to finish fourth in the second heat.

India missed out the eight-team final as they ended at ninth spot overall.

The first three in each of the two heats and the next two fastest qualify for the final.

The earlier Asian record was in the name of Qatar which had clocked 3:00.56 while winning the gold in the 2018 Asian Games.

Jacob, who ran the last leg, was the best among the four Indian runners with 44.68 seconds as he overtook two rivals after the team was placed at sixth when he took the baton from Rajiv Arokia (44.84).

National record holder Yahiya understandably clocked the slowest (45.60) time as he had to run the longest distance after starting the race in lane number 2.

The Indian team had qualified for the Olympics on the basis of the 3:01.89 timing clocked during the National Inter-State Championships in June which had put it in the 13th spot in World Athletics' top list.