Balkan Relay Cup: Indian women's 4x100m team wins gold; men’s 4x400m team bags silver
India’s 4x400m mixed team also won the gold medal in a two-team field.
Tokyo Olympian Dhanalakshmi Sekar combined with Hima Das, Jilna VM and Daneshwari Thakkannavar to win the gold medal in the women’s 4x100m event at the Balkan Relay Cup 2022 held in Erzurum, Turkey on Sunday.
The Indian women’s team clocked 43.55s to beat silver medallists Greece (45.11s) and bronze medallists Turkey (47.22s). Only three teams participated in the event.
Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi along with the trio of Noah Nirmal Tom, Arokia Rajiv and Muhammed Anas Yahiya, who had set an Asian record of 3:00.25s along with Amol Jacob at the Tokyo Olympics, clocked 3.04.41s to finish second in the men’s 4x400m relay.
The local team of Oguzhan Kaya, Sinan Oren, Yavuz Can, Ismail Nezir came first with a timing of 3.04.31s while the Greek team of Spyridon Ilias Doukatelis, Georgios Lampropoulos, Michail Pappas and Giannis Ntetsikas came third, clocking 3:09.20s.
India also won gold in the 4x400m mixed relay where only two teams took the field. Santhosh Kumar, Akash Kumar, Dandi Jyothika Sri, and Subha Venkatesan managed the timing of 3.20.12s which was better than Turkey’s 3.21.09.
Earlier on Saturday, Dhanalakshmi Sekar clocked her personal best time of 11.26s to win the 100m dash and 23.26s in the 200m race. Hima Das followed her with the timings of 11.59s and 23.51s in the 100m and 200m, respectively.
Tokyo Olympian Noah Nirmal Tom had won the gold medal in the men's 400m race while the women’s 400m race saw a clean sweep by India.
Dandi Jyothika Sri (53.47s), Subha Venkatesan (54.17s) and Summy (54.47s) clinched the podium in the eight-woman field.