Hillier optimistic despite the men’s 4×100 team’s recent flop show

It’s no secret that India’s men’s 4x100m relay team has long trailed the country’s more accomplished 4x400m squad at the continental and global level.

Though the team has qualified for major events such as the Asian Games (it didn’t compete in the 2018 and 2022 edition), Asian championships and World Relays qualification meets, it has consistently struggled with baton exchanges, lane infringement, consistency and depth.

The latest setbacks have only reinforced those concerns. At the Asian athletics championships in May 2025, the Indian quartet was disqualified because of an exchange-zone violation. Ironically, just a month earlier, almost the same core group — Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain — had clocked a National record of 38.69 seconds at the Indian Open relay competition in Chandigarh.

The errors persisted at the World Relays in Gaborone, Botswana, earlier this month. During the heats, Ragul Kumar, running the third leg, fell while attempting to pass the baton to Gurindervir, resulting in another disqualification. Harsh Santosh Raut and the more experienced Animesh had handled the opening two legs.

Greater exposure

Despite the disappointing run, national head coach James Hillier, who oversees the men’s 4x100m programme, remains optimistic. While taking responsibility for the poor results, he believes greater exposure, refinements and tweaks in training can help the team improve.

“It was a very high-pressure situation [at the World relays]. The team hadn’t even travelled overseas much, let alone compete at the World Relays. The standard was so high, so it was inevitable they would feel the pressure,” said Hillier, pointing to the team’s inexperience as a major factor.

He also felt the injury to Tamilarasu at the World Relays disrupted the combination. “That created an issue because once he got injured in the mixed relay, we had no choice other than to bring in Harsh, who had never run a relay before, and putting Ragul on the third leg was risky,” he explained.

Looking ahead to the Asian Games, Hillier, who is also the Athletics Director of the Reliance Foundation, said the Indian squad would compete in relay meets in Saudi Arabia and Taiwan to gain exposure before the Games.

“I’m very optimistic. We’ll get all our guys fit and try to put the best possible team together for the Games,” said the 48-year-old Briton.