Hit with cramps after heats, relay star Rajesh Ramesh vomited for an hour

It took the anchor leg runner two hours to feel alright

- ANDREW AMSAN

AFTER THEIR HISTORIC sub-3 minute race in the heats of the World Championships, the relay members team Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob and Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi suddenly noticed their anchor leg star missing. Rajesh Ramesh, who ran the race of his life, snapping at the heels of American Justin Robinson to help India break the Asian record, wasn't anywhere to be seen on the team bus they had boarded at Budapest.

"We didn't even realise for a while that Ramesh hadn't joined us. But when we realised, we rushed back to look for Ramesh. He was being carried off on a stretcher. We asked him if he was okay. He just kept saying lactic, lactic (build-up of acid in the muscles during intense exercise)," recalls Amoj. Although it isn't uncommon for professional runners to feel uneasy and cramp up after a high-intensity run, the final burst had really taken a toll on the 24-year-old. "I vomited for the next hour. My cramps had hit me so badly that I needed to be taken off on a stretcher. I haven't felt anything like this before. It took me two hours to feel okay," says Ramesh.

Apart from Neeraj's gold, the relay team's back-to-back sub-three-minute races in the heats and finals were one of the highlights of the Budapest Worlds. The relay team had gone into the competition with virtually no expectations. "Honestly nobody had any hopes for us. People thought we were here just to participate but we have proved them wrong," says Ramesh.