NEW DELHI: India’s women’s 4x100m relay team produced a spectacular performance to win gold at the 2026 Asian Relay Championships, defeating strong challengers China in a thrilling final in a season’s best time of 43.85 seconds.The quartet of Srabani Nanda, SS Sneha, Sudeshna Shivankar and Tamanna produced a near-perfect race, combining crisp exchanges and explosive finishing speed to edge ahead of China, who took silver in 44.09 seconds. Thailand won bronze with 44.11 seconds in an extremely tight battle.Led by Reliance Foundation’s Martin Owens, the Indian team executed their race plan with precision, marking one of their most polished relay performances in years.
Strong individual brilliance powers India’s campaign
The gold medal rounded off the successful match between Tamanna and Sneha Shanuvalli, who finished the championship with two medals each. Earlier, both played key roles in India’s bronze in the 4x100m medley relay along with Animesh Kujur and Pranav Gurava.The mixed quartet clocked 41.27 seconds to secure third place behind Thailand (41.14s) and China (41.29s), ensuring India remains competitive in the sprint relays.India also added silver in the 4x400m medley relay, where Theerthesh P Shetty, MR Poovamma, Barath Sridhar and Neeru Pathak managed to run together, finishing in 3:17.06 seconds behind Vietnam.WATCH: Indian team wins 4x100m gold
Mixed results in the 4x400m relays
Despite their success in the sprints, India faced disappointment in the 4x400m relay events. The women’s team of MR Poovamma, Rashdeep Kaur, Ansa Babu and Saloni Nagar finished fourth in 3:34.88 seconds, missing out on the podium as Vietnam took gold in 3:31.16.In the men’s 4x400m relay, Theerthesh P. Shetty, Avinash Kumar, Suraj Alagar Raja and Barath Sridhar placed fifth with a time of 3:05.33 as Vietnam again dominated the field to win gold.
India finished with three medals
Overall, India concluded the championships with one gold, one silver and one bronze, underlining a competitive but inconsistent campaign in all events. The absence of the men’s 4x100m team due to injuries also affected the overall medal potential.The 2026 edition served as a key warm-up event ahead of a packed athletics calendar, including the Commonwealth Games and Asian games. India will next host the 2027 Asian Relay Championships in Chandigarh.
