NEW DELHI: India’s women’s 4x100m relay team produced a spectacular performance to win gold at the 2026 Asian Relay Championships, defeating strong challengers China in a thrilling final in a season-high timing of 43.85 seconds.The quartet of Srabani Nanda, SS Sneha, Sudeshna Shivankar and Tamanna produced a near-perfect run, combining sharp stick exchanges and explosive finishing speed to see ahead of China, who took silver in 44.09 seconds. Thailand claimed bronze with 44.11 seconds in an extremely close contest.Coached by Reliance Foundation’s Martin Owens, the Indian team executed their race plan with precision, marking one of their cleanest relay performances in recent years.
Strong individual brilliance fueled India’s campaign
The gold medal capped a successful meet for Tamanna and Sneha Shanuvalli, who finished the championships with two medals each. Earlier, both had played a key role in India’s 4x100m medley bronze along with Animesh Kujur and Pranav Gurav.The mixed quartet clocked 41.27 seconds to secure third place behind Thailand (41.14s) and China (41.29s), ensuring India remains competitive in the sprint relay events.India also added a silver in the 4x400m medley relay, where Theerthesh P Shetty, MR Poovamma, Barath Sridhar and Neeru Pathak combined for a strong run, finishing in 3:17.06 seconds behind Vietnam.WATCH: Indian team wins 4x100m gold
Mixed results in 4x400m relay
Despite the sprint success, India faced disappointment in the 4x400m events. The women’s team of MR Poovamma, Rashdeep Kaur, Ansa Babu and Saloni Nagar finished fourth in 3:34.88 seconds, missing out on a podium as Vietnam took the gold in 3:31.16.In the men’s 4x400m relay, Theerthesh P Shetty, Avinash Kumar, Suraj Alagar Raja and Barath Sridhar placed fifth with a timing of 3:05.33 as Vietnam once again dominated the field to win gold.
India finished with three medals
Overall, India concluded the championships with one gold, one silver and one bronze, underlining a competitive but inconsistent campaign in all events. The absence of a men’s 4x100m team due to injuries also impacted the overall medal potential.The 2026 edition served as a crucial preparatory event ahead of a packed athletics calendar, including the Commonwealth Games and Asian games. India will host the 2027 Asian Relay Championships in Chandigarh.
Was India’s overall performance at the Asian Relay Championships satisfactory?
