India's 4x400m relay quartet eyes Asiad after Worlds show

NEW DELHI: They play cricket, volleyball and football together; hit the gym together. They even go for movies and parties as a bunch. And they outpaced some of the best 4x400m relay teams to finish fifth at the World Championships in Budapest, as a true band of brothers.

- Shantanu Srivastava

Last week in Budapest, Rajesh Ramesh, 24, the youngest member of the squad, downloaded Rajinikanth's latest flick Jailer and got his teammates to watch it. "We had a blast," laughed Amoj Jacob, 25, who ran the fastest split in the World Championships heats as they broke the Asian record, clocking 2:59.05 to finish second in their heats to qualify for the final. "We bond really well. We don't hesitate to point out each other's mistakes and push each other. We like to have fun together," he added.

Muhammed Anas Yahiya, 28, the most experienced among the four, agreed. "We are a close bunch that enjoys each other's company. Three of us come from Kerala and one from Tamil Nadu, so there is no language barrier. We are at each other's ears during training and trust each other's feedback.

India proved the heats showing was no fluke, going sub 3-minute again in the final (2:59.92). USA won at a world leading 2:57:31, France bettered their national record (2:58.45) while Britain (2:58.71) and Jamaica (2:59.34) ran their season's best.