By Srijit Das
A video from last year showing the Indian men's relay team breaking the Asian record clocking a timing of 2 minutes 59.05 seconds to qualify for the final round of the World Athletics Championships is circulating on WhatsApp as a recent event.
BOOM found that that the video is old, and the event occurred at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August 2023.
The 4-minute 14-second video shows the Indian men's 4x400m relay team surpassing teams such as Great Britain and Japan, securing second place just behind the United States with a time of 2 minutes 59.05 seconds, and thereby qualifying for the final round of the World Championships.
The video is being shared with a caption, "India's 4 × 400 men's relay team qualified for the first time in the World finals and also broke the Asian record . No one expected them !!! Wow what a great performance!"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
We also received the same video on our WhatsApp tip line number (7700906588) along with a request to verify the clip.
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Fact Check
BOOM first ran a keyword search to find news reports about the incident and found several news reports mentioning that the event occurred in August 2023.
An article published by The Hindu on August 27, 2023, reported saying, "The Indian men's 4x400m relay team shattered Asian record in a stunning race, clocking 2 minute 59.05 seconds to qualify for its maiden final round of the World Championships in Budapest on August 26. The Indian quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi and Rajesh Ramesh finished second in heat number one behind USA (2:58.47) to make it to the final to be held on Sunday."
We also ran a keyword search on X and found that several members of parliament and ministers shared the same footage in 2023 to congratulate the Indian team on their achievement.
Below is a post from Trinamool Congress's leader in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, from August 27, 2023, carrying the same footage.
Click here to view the post.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended his congratulations to the Indian relay team for their success, sharing a video of the event on his official X account with the message, "Incredible teamwork at the World Athletics Championships! Anas, Amoj, Rajesh Ramesh and Muhammed Ajmal sprinted into the finals, setting a new Asian Record in the M 4X400m Relay. This will be remembered as a triumphant comeback, truly historical for Indian athletics."
Click here to view the post.
However, despite their spectacular performance to qualify for the final, the Indian team failed to secure a top-three finish in the final and ended in fifth place at the World Athletics Championship 2023.
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