Rio 2016: Women finish seventh in 4x400m relay, men disqualified

The dismal showing from the Indian athletics contingent continued into day 14 of the Rio Olympics. This time it was a below-par effort from the relay quartets. Both the men and woman crashed out of their respective heats on Saturday.

The women's team finished seventh in their Heat while the men's team faced embarrassment of being disqualified.

Women's team consisting of Nirmala Sheoran, Tintu LukKa, M R Poovamma and Anilda Thomas clocked 3:29:33 to finish just above Cuba in Heat 2 in a field of eight teams.

Men's team comprising Muhammed Kunju, Muhammed Anas, Ayyasamy Dharun and Rajiv Arokia clocked 3:02.24 but was disqualified for wrongful change of baton during the anchor leg between Dharun and Rajiv.

Overall, the Indian eves were placed at 13th position among 16 teams in two Heats.

In the women's event, Nirmala started the race for the India women's team and from the very first lap lagged behind.

Tintu Luka, who took the baton from Nirmala, also failed to improve the timing, leaving little chance for Poovamma and Anilda to make up for the lost time.

In the end, India finished second last among Jamaica, Great Britain, Canada, Italy, Germany, Bahamas and Cuba.

Jamaica, Great Britain and Canada emerged as the top three teams from Heat 2.

The first three teams in each Heat (1 & 2), plus the next two fastest teams overall from two heats have moved on to the final.

USA (from Heat 1) qualified as the top team for the final with a time of 3:21.42, while Jamaica (from Heat 2) finished second after clocking 3:22.38 and Ukraine (from Heat 1) were third with 3:24.54.

- With inputs from PTI