Olympians Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Noah Nirmal Tom and Muhammed Anas are among the 15-member Indian team to compete in the Paris Games qualifiers at the World Athletics Relays, to be held in Nassau Bahamas on May 4 to 5.
The top two teams in each heat on the opening day will advance to the final on day two. They will also secure Olympic quotas in the process.
The Olympic lane seeding positions will be decided in the finals which will be held on day two. The teams in the finals will also be competing for medals.
All other teams will compete on day two in the additional round where the top two teams in each heat will also qualify for the Paris Games.
Start lists will be published on May 3, while team line-ups will be confirmed nearer to the time of each race.
A total of 32 teams will compete in the men’s 4x400m relay while 27 teams are set to appear in the women’s 4x400m.
Another 30 teams will represent their countries in the mixed 4x400m relay at the World Athletics Relays Bahamas 24.
India will be fielding teams in all the three races.
For the men’s 4x400m relay, India will have an eight-member team. Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Anas Yahiya, Muhammad Ajmal and Rajesh Ramesh, who won the Asian Games gold medal in 4x400m relay at the kHangzhou Asian Games, have been included.
Also included in the team are 2018 Asian Games mixed relay gold medallist Arokia Rajiv, Noah Nirmal Tom, Yashas Palaksha and Avinash Krishna Kumar.
Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Noah Nirmal Tom and Muhammed Anas Yahiya also competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as part of India’s relay team.
In the women section, India will have a seven-member team in the 4x400m relay.
Led by multiple Asian Games gold medallist MR Poovamma, the squad includes the Hangzhou Asian Games silver-medal winning team of Vithya Ramraj, Aishwarya Mishra, Prachi and Subha Venkatesan.
Jyothika Sri Dandi and Rupal are the other two members of the team.
In the mixed 4x400m relay, India have chosen Vithya Ramraj and Rajesh Ramesh, who were part of the silver medal-winning Asian Games 2023 team. Jyothika Sri Dandi, Amoj Jacob, Rupal and Yashas also find themselves in the mixed 4x400m team
The Squad:
Men’s 4x400m: Amoj Jacob, Avinash Krishna Kumar, Rajiv Arokia, Rajesh Ramesh, Noah Nirmal Tom, Muhammad Ajmal, Muhammad Anas, Yashas
Women’s 4x400m: Jyothika Sri Dandi, MR Poovamma, Aishwarya Mishra, Prachi, Vithya Ramraj, Rupal, Subha Venkatesan
Mixed 4x400m: Jyothika Sri Dandi, Vithya Ramraj, Rupal, Amoj Jacob, Rajesh Ramesh, Yashas