Watch: India’s women’s 4×100 beat China for Asian relay gold in China
India’s women’s 4x100m relay silenced a raucous home crowd in eastern China and produced a tactical masterclass to secure a spectacular gold medal on the final day of the 2026 Asian Relay Championships on Sunday.
The Indian quartet featuring SS Sneha, Sudeshna Shivankar, Tamanna and veteran host Srabani Nanda put up a technically flawless performance and clocked a superb and season’s best time of 43.85 seconds. The effort was enough to beat regional heavyweights China, who took silver in 44.09 seconds, and Thailand, who secured bronze in 44.11 seconds in a frantic photo finish.
Coached by Reliance Foundation’s Martin Owens, the Indian squad executed their race plan to absolute perfection. In a discipline where raw speed can easily be undone by poor baton control, it was accuracy inside the exchange zones that ultimately made the difference against the heavily favored Chinese team.
A video of the Indian quartet competing for gold in Shaoxing has since gone viral on social media.
Victory against the Chinese. in China.
At the Asian Relay Championships.
Srabani, Sudeshna, Sneha & Tamanna in the 4×100 relay.
Urine. Speed. Grace. Commitment.
But above all teamwork.
This clip has it all.
I’m watching it on a loop.
More please. pic.twitter.com/E00i0muduc— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 24, 2026
The gold medal triumph capped a very lucrative weekend for both Tamannaah and Sneha Shanuvalli who took home two medals each. Earlier in the event, the duo teamed up with national men’s 200m record holder Animesh Kujur and Pranav Gurav to win the bronze medal in the 4x100m medley relay in 41.27 seconds.
India completed their three-medal run at the championships with a fighting silver in the 4x400m medley relay run by Theerthesh P Shetty, MR Poovamma, Barath Sridhar and Neeru Pathak in 3:17.06. While individual brilliance highlighted the shorter sprints, the longer 4x400m relays proved more difficult. The Indian women’s 4x400m team finished just off the podium in fourth place (3:34.88), while the men’s team finished fifth in 3:05.33 as a dominant Vietnamese team swept the gold medals in both categories.
‘THE GOAL IS THE ASIAN GAMES’
As the athletics calendar closes in on the Asian Games in Japan later this year, gold in the 4x100m serves as a vital psychological blueprint.
For 35-year-old Nanda, whose international career spans over two decades, winning is proof of consistency and clean competition.
“I will definitely say that it is very important to stay clean and that gives a lot of confidence. And you can focus on your competition,” Nanda told PTI on Wednesday, reinforcing her anti-doping stance.
“We have to change the mindset from ‘we can’t do without drugs’ to ‘we can do without drugs.’
Despite the punishing training regime, which Nanda admits drove her to the brink of frustration, a career podium finish in Japan remains the ultimate goal.
“For this season, the main goal is the Asian Games and I hope for the best,” she added.
With Chandigarh officially announcing that it will host the next edition of the championship in 2027, the Indian sprinters have made sure to return home with the ultimate continental bragging rights.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
25 Jun 2026 11:37 IST