Banshee Unleashed: India's sprinting quartet Roars, eyes on Asian glory

Right off the bat, let's just say it: Never before in India’s sprinting history have four fast runners not just raised the bar but also created legitimate medal expectation at the continental level. Meet the quartet of Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and then in the final stretch, Amlan Borgohain, stoic, upright yet with shades of a banshee, a maelstrom of raw, untamed energy.

It all started much earlier, at the 2025 Relay Classic in Chandigarh, on a hot, dry April 30 afternoon with temperatures hovering around 39 degrees, that softened into an early evening when the 4x100m final was run. The expectations were there. Around 500 fans crowded around the track, the glamour of a relay always has that surge of excitement. Earlier in the heats, the Reliance team comprising Gurindervir, Animesh, Manikanta and Amlan had clocked 38.93s. Just 0.04 seconds off the national record of 38.89s created a decade and a half back by Rahmatulla Mola, Suresh Sathya, Shameer Mon and Abdul Najeeb Qureshi at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Immediately after the heats, the sprinters crowded around James Hillier, Athletics Director at the Reliance Foundation, words of encouragement exchanged. "Go for the record," the athletes told each other. In fact, Manikanta, before the final, in the hour and 35 minutes that preceded it, voiced a confident premonition: "It’s the perfect day to break the NR."

In the Federation Cup in Kochi, ten days prior, the athletes had complained of the humidity and how it sapped their energy. Yet, Animesh broke the 200m National Record there clocking 20.40s.

Earlier, in March, Gurindervir Singh, set a new men’s 100m national record with an impressive 10.20s at the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru. The earlier record was with Manikanta Hoblidhar, 10.23, set in October 2023. Hoblidhar also improved his own Personal Best clocking 10.22, improving by 0.01s.

In a way, the gears were meshing.

Odisha’s false start delayed the final by 3-4 minutes. Frayed nerves. At the gun, however, Gurindervir, in lane 3, shot out like a startled buck. The transition to Animesh Kujur was smooth as he accelerated and then the fluid baton exchange with Hoblidhar who did the curve with precision before passing it to Amlan, who was clear, victory sealed by a mile but the bow on the package came with the NR of a blistering 38.69s.

TIME FOR A MEDAL?

Put into perspective, China claimed silver at the last Asian Championships with 38.87 seconds. This national record can win us a medal — it could break a 46-year-old barrier. Dream big: it could even be gold, something India has never achieved in this event.

India has won bronze in the men's 4×100m relay at the Asian Athletics Championships in 1973, 1975, and 1979. Since then, four-and-a-half decades without a medal. The podium has remained a mirage.

A baton has passed. A legacy renewed. From one generation to the next, India's 4×100m men's relay team has not just carried the baton — they've carried the dream forward. In the last ten Asian Athletics Championships, India’s highest finish has been 4th in 2003 (39.69s) and 2007 (39.84s).

Although consistency is a virtue in sport, and the sprinters have shown enough of it in the past year, yet it’s the feel, the melange that makes this team irresistible. In Gurindervir, you see hunger, a naked desire to run fast, Animesh, a terrific bend runner believes he is standing beside the clock that will propel him into history, in his quite demeanour, you can see a depth that still needs to be tapped. Manikanta Hoblidhar, relaxed, at ease, the 3rd runner, loves the bend, his casualness is ringed by steel and then the 4th leg, baton in hand Amlan Borgohain, the banshee down the stretch, running as if a clan of hyenas were snapping at his heels.

On the bench, apart from these four and on the flight to South Korea for the Asian Athletics Championships, will be Pranav Gurav (10.27s), Tamil Arasu (10.42) and Ragul Kumar (10.45s). Timings will improve, of course, but the key in the relay isn’t about having the four fastest on the continent, though we are still way off that mark, but to have a team that collects itself into a bunch of fluid runners, passing the baton with ease.

There is an apt description of the travails of a relay quartet by Matthew Futterman of the New York Times when the USA men’s team failed to qualify for the final of the 4X100 relay at the Tokyo Olympics: “Relay racing presents sprinters with a devil’s choice: Run too fast and the danger of dropping the baton rises, especially with sprinters reaching speeds of more the 26 miles per hour. Focus too heavily on taking care of the baton, and the time inevitably suffers.”

In that American team, Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker, Cravon Gillespie were one of the four fastest in the world. But the team crashed to sixth spot. Bromell has a PB of 9.76s. Fred Kerley, apart from winning the silver in the Tokyo 100m has a PB of 9.76s. Ronnie Baker has a PB of 9.83s while Gillespie has a PB of 9.93s with a 2019 World Championship relay gold to boot. Yet, on the biggest stage, in that one moment, that mattered, they crashed and burnt.

To be on the global stage, a catalyst for sprinters coming through the system, India needs to inch closer to a flat ten or below ten. It’s the holy grail for the Indian sprinter, and a pathway to a world class relay team. Hillier observes: “It’s a nice barrier to break, and people ask me this question a lot. We always talk about 10.00 or 9.99—why not 9.95? We often discuss these barriers, and I think they can be broken. I know what it takes to get there, and it would be great to see this timing achieved in India. It requires a perfect day, perfect weather, and it's crucial that they train together as well. It's a 'Sub 10 Project.'"

Abdul Najeeb Qureshi, part of the quartet that held the NR for 15 years said winning comes after the team has stayed and collaborated together. “First, we will need to set the collaboration and mentally prepare them. We need to set the four players who are going to run together - it’s not possible for them to train individually in different states. Exchange is crucial. Even when you look at the USA, they sometimes drop the baton, despite training for over a year.

“When we did CWG, we spent over a year preparing for the relay exchange, and I can confidently say it was the best among all our competitors. We weren’t the fastest runners on the field—I ran 10.3, and the others were 10.4 runners—yet we executed the exchange seamlessly, which resulted in our brilliant timing.”

Right after setting the new National Record of 38.69s, the four bunched together chuckled and spoke about the ‘perfect exchanges’ ‘needed the record’ ‘we knew right after the heats that we could achieve it’. Amlan, while speaking about pushing the record, was more intent on the team getting a medal at the Asian Athletics Championships. Gurindervir played the seer, prophesying that “three in the group will also run 10.1”

The four rolled away, basking in the euphoria of the moment, taking in the congratulations. They looked a team. Excited. Appreciating each other. It will be back to the grind of training later. In the pursuit of medals, pushing boundaries that separate the great from the good.