They play cricket, volleyball and football together; hit the gym together. They even go for movies and parties as a bunch. And they outpaced some of the best 4x400m relay teams to finish fifth at the World Championships in Budapest, as a true band of brothers.
Last week in Budapest, Rajesh Ramesh, 24, the youngest member of the squad, downloaded Rajinikanth’s latest flick Jailer and got his teammates to watch it. “We had a blast,” laughed Amoj Jacob, 25, who ran the fastest split in the World Championships heats as they broke the Asian record, clocking 2:59.05 to finish second in their heats to qualify for the final.
“We bond really well. We don’t hesitate to point out each other’s mistakes and push each other. We like to have fun together,” he added.
Muhammed Anas Yahiya, 28, the most experienced among the four, agreed. “We are a close bunch that enjoys each other’s company. Three of us come from Kerala and one from Tamil Nadu, so there is no language barrier. We are at each other’s ears during training and trust each other’s feedback.
India proved the heats showing was no fluke, going sub 3-minute again in the final (2:59.92). USA won at a world leading 2:57:31, France bettered their national record (2:58.45) while Britain (2:58.71) and Jamaica (2:59.34) ran their season’s best.
“It was a tough, high-pressure final, but we could have done better. We wanted to run sub 2:59s but it didn’t happen,” said Jacob who trains at the Inspire Institute of Sports in Bellary. Fatigue and a lack of recovery from the effort in the heats the previous day, Muhammed Ajmal, who ran the third leg, had to jump over a prone Zibane Ngozi of Botswana, who fell as he took off. Jacob being blocked in the second leg didn’t help before the break in momentum.
“If Ajmal didn’t have to jump over the Botswana athlete, we could have possibly run sub 2:59. That is what our coach had demanded from us. He told us not to fall too far behind the leaders and finish the race in under 2:59,” said Jacob.
The performance has boosted the relay runners ahead of the Hangzhou Asian Games (Sept 23-Oct 8). But they are not too sure they can lower the record further in China. Indian men’s longer relay squad won silver at the 2018 Jakarta Games, clocking 3:01:85. Qatar won gold running a Games record 3:00:56, with Japan third.
“Running 2:58 will be tough because we won’t have too many guys pushing us. We will be wary of Japan who have three runners who do 400m in 44 seconds. They will surely come after us, but we will be ready,” said Jacob. India national record in the 400m is Anas’ 45.21s he ran in 2019.
In Budapest, Rajesh vomitted for an hour after his exertion in the heats and was left with a severe headache. “It tests you mentally and physically,” said Jacob, who used to run the 800m until 2019, but quit the double lap race. “It was too taxing, too much running. The workouts were really punishing and my body couldn’t take it.
“Workload management is a key component of training. I had 6-7 injuries last year which was very frustrating. Each time I recovered I would get another injury. I was so fed up I almost quit athletics, but coach Raj Mohan (India’s deputy chief coach) stopped me.”
Anas also helped Jacob regain his faith in training and pointed out a slight technical tweak which he believes has done wonders with the relay team.
“We train four hours a day. Raj Mohan sir has changed the baton exchange a little. It helped to exchange a little quicker; that tweak has made the team more confident in the relay aspect,” Anas said.
While two sub 3-minute runs at the World Championships offer a silver lining, the group is conscious of its indifferent form going into the competition. In the Sri Lankan Championships in July, they ran 3:02:02 while they clocked a poor 3:07:29 to be eliminated in the heats at last year’s Worlds in Eugene.
“We were really sad after that run in Eugene and wanted to get better. The Asian Games will be my first major multi-sports discipline, I want the improvement curve to continue,” Rajesh said. “Our recent success means there will be expectations at the Asian Games but as a group, we’re confident of doing something special in Hangzhou.”
The Indian relay squad is yet to qualify for the Paris Olympics. Their big chance will come at the World Athletics Relays, the main Olympic qualifying event to be staged in Nassau, Bahamas next May.
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