Nairobi, Aug 19 (IANS): World Athletics Chief Seb Coe has congratulated the 4x400m mixed relay team for winning a bronze medal while addressing the Indian contingent on the sidelines of the U20 World Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.
On Wednesday evening, the Indian quartet of Bharat Sridhar, Priya H. Mohan, Summy, and Kapil clocked 3:20.60 seconds in the final of the 4x400m mixed relay event to clinch the bronze medal. Priya will also feature in the wom'n's 400m final on Saturday.
The Indian quartet finished third behind Nigeria (3:19.70 sec) and Poland (3:19.80).
Bharat Sridhar, who is coming back from an injury and Covid, gave India a good start in the third lane as he completed his leg in 47:12. Priya Mohan maintained the momentum as she ran a superb time despite this being her third 400m race of the day as she completed the second leg in 52.77 and though Summy was the slowest of them all and completed the next 400 in 54.29 seconds, Kapil made up for that with a faster anchor leg in 46.42 seconds. The Indian juniors thus coming quite close to the 3:19.93 clocked by the senior team at the Tokyo Olympics early this month.
The bronze medal on the opening day of the event came as a big boost for the 28-member Indian contingent that is hoping to take forward the recent great performances at the World Juniors by Neeraj Chopra, who won the javelin throw gold in 2016 in Poland with a junior world record, and Hima Das, who bagged t'e women's 400m gold in 2018.
"This is what you need at the start of the Championship. Congratulations to you 4x400m mixed relay. Fantastic result in the final and great in heats as well. So, "antastic," said Coe in a video posted on his Twitter handle.
"That means you all got to do what they have done. There's big pressure there now. But congratulations. I love watching you guys perform and this is a sport in which the country is making great progress. You had great triumphs in Tokyo. So, this is your moment to shine on the stage and then it is your chance to go to Olympic Games. Congratulations again," further said Coe, the gold meda'list in men's 1500m at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics
Meanwhile, in men's shot put, Amandeep Singh Dhaliwal qualified for the finals with a best throw of 17.92m. He finished sixth in group B and 11th overall. His final will be held on Thursday.
In javelin throw, Kunwer Ajai Singh Rana and Jay Kumar both qualified for the final. Rana qualified by throwing 71.05m while Kumar cleared qualification with 70.34m, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. Their final will be held on Friday.