Rio Olympics 2016: Men's relay team books berth in style, Renjith Maheswary records third best jump in world

The last round of qualification held on 11 and 12 July for Rio Olympics saw the Indian contingent in the athletics division rise to 36 athletes.

The latest qualifier was triple jumper Renjit Maheswary, 800 metre runner Jinson Johnson and 200 metre sprinter Dharambir Singh. The contingent also comprises men and women's 400 metre relay teams.

With an ambitious contingent, India is looking to do wonders at the games. Veteran triple jumper and former Asian champion Renjith Maheswary on Monday reached the highest peak of his career, when he broke the national record of 17.17 with a amazing jump of 17.30 metres. This jump makes Maheswary third best in the world after Americans Christian Taylor (17.76) and Will Claye (17.65.)

Indian Express quoted Maheswary as saying, "The weather was not congenial in Hyderabad. I tried to qualify in Thailand but fouled a couple of jumps. The runway in this Bengaluru stadium is good and that helped me accomplish my dream of making it to Rio."

India's ace 800 metre runner Jinson Johnson recorded the second best time by an Indian - 1:45:98 - after Sri Ram Singh's seventh place finish in Montreal Olympics at 1:45:77. The qualifying standard for the games stood at 1:46:00, Indian Express reported. Johnson is also a silver medalist at 2015 Asian championship.

Dharambir Singh broke his own national record of 20.66 by clocking 20.45 second in the men's 200 metre. The qualifying standard in the event was 20.50 seconds. Of all the athletes, Dharambir will be the first to sprint 200 metre in the summer games after Tamil Nadu's Perumal Subramaniam in 1980 Moscow.