Athletics Federation of India to dissolve Paris Olympics men’s 4x400m relay team: Reports
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has taken the tough call of dissolving India’s 4x400m relay team. The decision was made after reports of rift with Jamaican coach Jason Dawson. The athletes, reportedly, complained that under Dawson, they were being made to overtrain.
Rajesh Ramesh, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal and Muhammed Anas are the four members of the relay team. Adille Sumariwalla, the AFI President, said the federation thought about making the change after the team failed to live up to expectations in the Paris Olympics earlier this year.
The AFI president put forth his opinions during the National Junior Athletics Championships which is currently taking place in Bhubaneswar. The news team is set to join the camp in Trivandrum.
“The 400m athletes - men and women - will be camping in Trivandrum. We have taken lessons from the Paris Olympics. We are going to change the 400m runners completely. They have aged as well. So, we will try out new athletes," Sumariwalla was quoted as saying by NNIS.
Sumariwalla was also not happy with the performance of Avinash Sable, who finished 11th in the Paris Olympics after clocking 8:14.18, lower than his personal best of 8:09.91. The AFI also intends to add 10 more events to tournaments to be held next year.
How has India’s 4x400m relay team performed?
The quartet of Jacob, Ramesh, Ajmal and Anas hogged the headlines when they bagged the gold medal in the Asian Games last year in Hangzhou. They were also exceptional in the World Athletics Championship 2023 where they finished fifth after clocking 2:59.92 seconds in the final.
But they flattered to deceive in the Paris Olympics after failing to qualify for the final. They finished fourth with a timing of 3:00.58 seconds after France (2:59.53 seconds), Belgium (2:59.84 seconds) and Italy (3:00.26 seconds).