India’s 4x400m relay teams credit Nassau training for punching ticket to Paris Premium

Indian 4x400m relay teams secure Paris Olympic spots after overcoming challenges in Bahamas training camp.

The Indian men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams overcame failures to seal Paris Olympic quota places in the Bahamas and heave a sigh of relief. They think the initiative to send them for a month-long training camp in Nassau played a critical part in the preparation for the important assignment.

The men’s quartet of Muhammed Anas, Muhammed Ajmal, Arokia Rajiv and Amoj Jacob, which could not register a time in its first attempt as Rajesh Ramesh pulled out due to a hamstring injury, bounced back to clock 3:03.23 and punched a ticket to Paris.

Jacob said the Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI’s) plan and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) supporting the camp was an essential ingredient in the success.

“It was really helpful, especially the jet lag. Right now I am sleepy, I want to sleep. I am going to sleep at 11 p.m. and am waking up at 1 in the night. I am not able to sleep, I am just getting two hours of sleep. My body is getting used to sleeping around like 12 or 1 in the afternoon, it is a bit hard. But if I have to compete in the Diamond League, then I have to go to Eugene and compete and then come back and compete in China. I have to get used to it.

“It took me around two weeks to get used to their timing. And after we were able to cope up with the work out. Unfortunately, Rajesh, our second leg runner, pulled his hamstring during the heats. Otherwise we would have clocked below three minutes in the heats and qualified. In the finals we were a bit stressed about what would happen, but we qualified. Our motto was to qualify and we did it. We are really thankful that we went one month before,” said Jacob.

Living in an apartment near the venue and getting served Indian food, like they are served at the SAI training centre in Thiruvananthapuram also helped the athletes.

Chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair pointed out that the camp helped the sprinters overcome jet lag and adapt to an entirely different time zone, which is nine-and-half hours behind India time.