Silencing the raucous home crowd in East China, India’s women’s 4x100m relay team delivered a tactical masterclass to clinch a spectacular gold medal on the final day of the Asian Relay Championships 2026 on Sunday.

The Indian quartet, comprising SS Sneha, Sudeshna Shivankar, Tamannaah and veteran anchor Sarbani Nanda, produced a technically impeccable performance to clock a blistering, season’s best timing of 43.85 seconds. The effort was enough to overtake regional giants China, which won silver in 44.09 seconds, and Thailand, which took bronze in a frantic photo finish in 44.11 seconds.

Coached by Reliance Foundation’s Martin Owens, the Indian squad executed their race plan to perfection. In a discipline where raw pace can easily be undone by poor baton management, it was accuracy inside the exchange zone that ultimately made the difference against the heavily favored Chinese team.

The video of the Indian quartet winning the gold medal in Shaoxing has since gone viral on social media.

The gold medal wins capped a very exciting weekend for both Tamannaah and Sneha Shanuvalli, who walked away with two medals each. Earlier in the meet, the pair, along with men’s 200m national record holders Animesh Kujur and Pranav Gurav, had won a bronze medal in the mixed 4x100m relay with a timing of 41.27 seconds.

India completed its three medal tally at the championships with a silver in the mixed 4x400m relay courtesy of Teerthesh P Shetty, MR Poovamma, Barath Sridhar and Neeru Pathak who ran 3:17.06. While individual talent highlighted the shorter sprints, the longer 4×400 meters relay proved tough. The Indian women’s 4x400m team finished just outside the podium places in fourth place (3:34.88), while the men’s team finished fifth with a timing of 3:05.33, as a dominant Vietnam team won gold medals in both categories.

‘Asian Games are the target’

With the athletics calendar building for the Asian Games in Japan later this year, the 4x100m gold serves as an important psychological blueprint.

For 35-year-old Nanda, whose international career spans more than two decades The victory is a testament to continuity and clean competition.

Strengthening her anti-doping stance, Nanda told PTI on Wednesday, “I would definitely say that staying clean is very important and it gives a lot of confidence. And you can focus on your competition.”

“We have to change the mentality of ‘we can’t do anything without drugs’ to ‘we can do without drugs’.”

Nanda admits that the punishing training regime has pushed her to the brink of despair, yet the ultimate goal is a career-defining podium finish in Japan.

“The main target this season is the Asian Games and I am hoping for the best,” she said.

With Chandigarh officially announced to host the next edition of the championships in 2027, India’s sprinters have ensured that they return home with the ultimate continental bragging rights.

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