The Indian men’s 4x400m relay quartet shattered the Asian record during the Olympics heat race but missed qualifying for the final round by a whisker here on Friday.
The quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Tom Noah Nirmal, Rajiv Arokia and Amoj Jacob completed the race in 3:00.25sec to finish fourth in the second heat.
India missed out the eight-team final as they ended at ninth spot overall.
The first three in each of the two heats and the next two fastest qualify for the final.
The earlier Asian record was in the name of Qatar which had clocked 3:00.56 while winning the Gold in the 2018 Asian Games.
Jacob, who ran the last leg, was the best among the four Indian runners with 44.68 seconds as he overtook two rivals after the team was placed at sixth when he took the baton from Rajiv Arokia (44.84).
National record holder Yahiya understandably clocked the slowest (45.60) time as he had to run the longest distance after starting the race in lane number 2.
Yahiya said he’s happy that the team broke the Asian record but gutted to miss the final.
“Really happy with the team’s performance and the new records but gutted to have not make it to the finals. Thank you everyone for your wishes and messages,” he tweeted.
Race walkers fail
Earlier in the day, the race walkers failed to impress with below-par performances at Sapporo.
National record holder Priyanka Goswami was among the leading pack around the halfway mark but eventually finished 17th while compatriot Bhawna Jat ended at 32nd in the women’s 20km race walk event.
In the men’s 50km event, Gurpreet Singh pulled out after the 35km mark due to cramps under hot and humid conditions as the Indian race walkers ended their disappointing campaign.