The Indian 4x100m women’s relay team broke an 18-year-old national record to finish in fourth position at the IAAF World Challenge, in Beijing on Wednesday.
The Indian 4x100m women’s relay team broke an 18-year-old national record to finish in fourth position at the IAAF World Challenge, in Beijing on Wednesday.
The relay team comprising Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, H.M. Jyoti and Merlin Joseph clocked 44.03secs to finish the race, breaking the long standing record of 44.43s created by the quartet of Saraswati Dey, Rachita Mistry, E.B. Shyla and P.T. Usha on July 22, 1998 in Fukuoka, Japan.
The team ran with Merlin starting the race and Jyoti running second followed by Srabani and Dutee, who ran the anchor leg.
The hosts grabbed the first and third positions with China A and B teams on the first and third position respectively, while Japan finished second.
China A team clocked 42.65 for the gold medal while Japan finished the race in 43.81s for the second place ahead of China B team, who took the bronze clocking 43.89s.
The Indian team will now fly to Taiwan for their next challenge at the Taiwan Open Athletics Championships.
Gatlin sprints to gold Meanwhile, US sprinter Justin Gatlin clinched first place in the men’s 100 metre race, as he accelerates to an Olympic showdown with arch-rival Usain Bolt.
Days after cruising to victory at the Diamond League event in Shanghai, the 34-year-old veteran ran 9.94sec, but fell short of beating the year's fastest time of 9.91sec set by Femi Ogunode of Qatar.
