FILE PHOTO: James Hillier’s project at Reliance has yielded positive results in the initial few months, including a new National Record of 38.69s set by Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar, and Amlan Borgohain. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Injuries, botched baton exchanges and mistimed starts — the Indian quartets had a forgettable time at the recent World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana.

The Athletics Federation of India had sent entries for all events except the women’s 4x400m relay but at the end of the two-day competition, no berths could be secured for next year’s World Championships.

India’s best chance to qualify for the 2027 showpiece in Beijing was arguably in the men’s 4x400m but there was also added interest in how the sprint relay quartets would fare.

Since last year, James Hillier, the athletics director at Reliance Foundation, has been working hard to build a strong men’s 4x100m relay squad comprising the country’s fastest sprinters. The project yielded positive results in the initial few months, including a new National Record of 38.69s set by Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar, and Amlan Borgohain.

But the international arena is a different ball game altogether. The team was disqualified during last year’s Asian Championships.

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In Botswana, it was placed last in its heat on the first day, failing to qualify for the finals. On day two, with another opportunity to book a World Championships spot, the quartet didn’t even finish the race.

Hillier admitted that the pressure of the occasion got to the quartet but refused to single anyone out for the mistakes. “The standard was so high that it was inevitable that they were going to feel the pressure and mistakes were going to happen,” said the Brit on the sidelines of the Indian Athletics Series-6 event in Chennai on Sunday.

“We must all reflect and not cast blame at anybody. It’s like if you miss a penalty in a World Cup final. It’s a team sport but that poor person that misses the penalty always gets singled out but we mustn’t single anyone out. It’s a team thing. And as a coach, I take full responsibility.”

Hillier also mentioned that he could not treat the relay teams in India the way he could back home. “The British team is just far more established. So, you can work at a very high end with it.

“I think what I’ve tried to do is to be a little bit too elite and expect too much of these guys too early. I should have focused a bit more on just getting the basics right and building confidence. And then once that’s established and I’ve got my four guys, then I can start to work on the elite bits,” he opined.

Lack of preparation and injuries

The men’s 4x100m relay team had not qualified for the World Relays but a few pullouts from other nations opened the door for India. However, the uncertainty leading up to the event resulted in lack of ideal preparation.

Once it came to competing, Hillier rued the fact that he did not have his best sprinters available for the event. Manikanta and Amlan, half of the quartet which set the National Record last year, were not in the squad due to injuries.

Tamilarasu S. got injured during the 4x100m mixed relay heat, leading to further issues for Hillier.

“We were down to a really threadbare group of very inexperienced athletes,” said Hillier.

On day two in Botswana, India was doing fairly well to challenge for a World Championships spot until the final leg. Gurindervir took off a bit too early for the anchor leg and therefore, the baton exchange with Ragul Kumar never happened.

“Ragul to Gurindervir wasn’t a well-practised exchange. It was always a risky move, putting Ragul on the third leg. Losing Tamil Arasu through injury was a real problem for us because I had to bring Harsh Raut (first leg) in who had never run a relay in his life. So, the first time he ran a relay was in the World Relays. Training for relays and running in competitions are totally different,” said Hillier.

“Of course, Gurindervir was on the first leg for the national record-winning team but we tried him on the fourth leg. I want to see whether he’s a better fit there.”

Looking towards Asian Games

Asian Games (September 19 - October 4) is the ultimate goal this year for Hillier. For the continental event, the preparation plan has taken some shape as he hopes to provide more exposure for the 4x100m relay team members.

“They’re going to Saudi Arabia next week to compete in a relay. Then, we’ll do another relay in Taiwan at the start of June as well. They’ll do one individual race and relay. I want them to do well in the individual race also because that gives them confidence but yes, we really want to focus on these relays,” said Hillier.

Published on May 11, 2026