Know the athletes: Who are the members of India's 4x400m men’s relay team? (2024)

India will feature in the 4x400m men’s relay for second Olympics in a row after they sealed qualification for Tokyo 2020 through the world rankings quota.

The men’s relay team was ranked No 13 in Road to Tokyo Rankings; the top-16 teams make the cut for the Olympics. They achieved a season best of 3:01.89 at the Inter-state Athletics meet in Patiala in the last week of June to boost their rankings.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) named Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Noah Nirmal Tom and Naganathan Pandi on the men’s 4x400m men’s relay team. Here’s more on the men who will represent India at the track event:

Muhammed Anas Yahiya

The 26-year-old, known as the ‘Nilamel Express’ has been India’s leading quartermiler for a few years now. He currently holds the 400m national record: 45.21s that he achieved at the Kladno Athletics meet in Czech Republic.

He stamped his class at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018, coming back with three medals: gold in mixed 4x400m relay, silver in men’s 400m and silver in men’s 4x400m relay.

Anas had a disappointing outing at the Rio 2016. He did not advance to the semifinal of the 400m event and the 4x400m men’s relay team was disqualified.

“It will be my second Olympics. I have a better understanding of things now. So I will be better prepared when it comes,” Anas had told the New Indian Express in 2020. “Olympics is the biggest stage. Performing there is the dream of every athlete, and it is no different for me. I have been working towards putting my best foot forward. I can’t wait.”

Amoj Jacob

Jacob has shrugged off the lockdown blues of last year and recorded some of his best timings in 2021.

The 23-year-old started off the season by running 400m a personal best of 46 seconds at the Indian Grand Prix II in February. A month later, he lowered his personal best to 45.68 at the Federation Cup in Patiala.

“From 2019, I am mainly focusing on strength, that was helpful. Earlier I was focusing on the endurance part,” Jacob told the Hindu in June. “Basically I want to run below 45s, it will be great if that happens this year. To go below 45, I'll have to work on my start, the finish also. And also focus on the floating part, from 80 to 250m.”

This will be his first multi-sport event, but Jacob is confident that India will put on a good show in the 4x400m men’s relay event.

“For the first time, we have four runners who have gone below 46s. If we make it to Tokyo, we can finish among the top five in the 4x400,” the Delhi athlete said.

Arokia Rajiv

Rajiv, a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army, hails from a small village in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. Son of a lorry driver, Rajiv didn’t always have the money to buy running shoes when he started in athletics and borrowed spikes from a friend once, when he had to compete at a state meet.

But the 30-year-old has come a long way since. Like Anas, he was part of the 4x400m mixed relay team and the 4x400m men’s relay team when they won a gold and silver, respectively, at the 2018 Asian Games. He has also won a bronze in 400m individual event at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.

Rajiv, who struggled for motivation during the lockdown period last year, ran his season best of 46.52 at the Federation Cup in March. But his personal best is 45.37, which he ran at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.

Noah Nirmal Tom

Tom usually anchors the Indian relay teams, and was India’s final runner when they secured the Olympic qualification for the 4x400m mixed relay event at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.

“India was in the fifth position when I was handed the baton,” he had said during a chat show with Indian film star Arjun Kapoor last year. “And in the last 10 metres, we became third and we qualified. It was a fight. It's like the last-minute of a football match. It was a proud moment to get that Indian jersey in your hands.”

A huge football fan, the Kerala athlete shifted to athletics when he was in standard XI.

The 26-year-old’s personal best in 400m is 45.75 in August 2019.

Naganathan Pandi

Like a lot of his fellow Indian athletes, Naganathan has endured a life of struggles. His father was a farm hand and mother a homemaker and they barely eked out a living to feed a family of six. Naganathan used to work as a construction labourer on weekends to help his family out.

“When I began running races in school, I couldn’t afford shoes. So, I ran barefoot. When I made it to district sports meet, my school gifted me a pair of shoes,” he told the New Indian Express in July.

The sport took him places. Naganathan, who has a degree in history because he could not afford fees for the engineering college, was selected as an Armed Reserve Constable through sports quota in 2017.

A police constable now, the 25-year-old ran a personal best of 46.09s in 400m at the Federation Cup in Patiala in March, which helped him inch closer to a place on the men’s 4x400m relay team.

When are the 4x400m men's relay team in action?

The Indian team will participate in the heat on Friday.