Relay team fail to make 4×100 final

The Indian women’s 4x400m team wilted in the heats at the Bird’s Nest Stadium here on Friday, as a botched up start never allowed them to push for a place in the final. The collective effort by S Geetha, Manjeet Kaur, Chitra Soman and Mandeep Kaur — a below-par 3:28.83 — was only good enough to finish seventh in the eight-team heat one, with only Japan (3:30.52) behind. The first three from each of the two heats and the next two fastest teams make it to the final.

The Indian team could not even repeat their season’s best effort of 3:28.29, which they clocked at Korat, Thailand in the second-leg of Asian Grand Prix in June, and crashed out.

Geetha was not among the quickest off the block and by the time she had completed her lap, India were languishing at seventh. Once the baton changed hands, Manjeet Kaur dropped down further, behind her Japanese opponent and it needed Chitra’s early burst to move up to fifth position before she ran out of steam and dropped down to seventh again. Mandeep could make little headway.