Brothers of Destruction: How the relay team is driving India's athletics revolution

India Today

a day ago

The Brothers of Destruction are leading India's athletics revolution (Courtesy: Reliance Foundation) India is seeing an athletics revolution
The 4 fastest sprinters are constantly pushing each other
James Hillier gives a behind-the-scenes insight to India Today
On a humid Sunday evening in Odisha, a dejected Lalu Bhoi walked up to the press after finishing fourth in the men's 100m sprint. The local boy, who hoped to be in the medal standings, missed the podium by 0.04 seconds, having clocked 10.54 in the 1st Indian Continental Tour.
The result wasn't the end of the world. Lalu said that he had a tremendous bunch of people around him, who always lent a hand when things got difficult.
'Amlan, Gurindervir, Manikanta, they treat me like their brother. I am doing well (PB 10.34), they tell me that if we do not push each other, then who will? And they tell me that I will also get to the top level, and they will help me get there.'
The words from Lalu give a reflection of an incredible value system that has been built by coaches James Hillier and Martin Owens at the Reliance Foundation. The top four sprinters â€' Animesh Kujur, Gurindervir Singh, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain â€' have broken each other's records in the race to become India's fastest man.
Young Animesh is at the top of the pile right now, having beaten Gurindervir's record at the Dromia meet in Greece. And now he has a target on his back. He cannot sit back and bask in his glory. The Making of Brothers of Destruction
Sprinting is an intense competition. It is an ancient sport that brings out the primal instincts of a man. In 10 seconds or less, you put every single muscle of your body in unison, under intense pressure. When you hear the clap, you get out of the box as fast as you can, and then you run, run and run. It is each man to their own, and it is rare that you find friends on the track in such a hostile environment.
When they are on their own, they are Animesh, Guri, Mani, and Amlan, but together, they become the Brothers of Destruction. The Brothers of Destruction constantly push themselves to get better on the track (Image Credit: Reliance Foundation)
Their camaraderie is more than a nickname. That bond extends off the track as well, one that has been carefully nurtured inside the high-performance environment of the Reliance Foundation.
In Indian sprinting, where most breakthroughs have been individual, this quartet has found something different: identity, rhythm, and trust, together. At the 2025 National Relay Carnival in Chandigarh, they broke the long-standing national record from the 2010 Commonwealth Games (38.89s), clocking a blistering 38.69 seconds.
'You know, they are four great young people. They really are. They're real role models now, and becoming more and more important in the country,' James Hillier, the Athletics Director of the foundation told India Today in an exclusive interview.
Hillier directly oversees the 4x100m squad. In competitions, once they run their individual events, they have to quickly make a shift in mentality to race the 4x100.
That shift in mentality cannot happen without chemistry, says Hillier.
'The camaraderie is very important. And the chemistry as well. You need to know where exactly the baton is going to be. The first leg runner needs to tell the second leg runner where exactly the hand needs to be. So we start creating leaders in the team. So you know, I might be the head coach, but I need them to be coached by each other,' Hillier says.
There are examples of national disasters in the relay event. The teams from the USA and Great Britain have consistently been affected by the lack of chemistry, despite having four of their best sprinters on track. Hillier says that members of the US and GB teams used to dislike each other in the mid-2000s and 2010s, which significantly impacted their performances on the track.
'When Britain won the 4x100m relay in the 2017 World Championships, they did it without Reece Prescod, their fastest runner. He was not buying into the culture, so they kicked him out of the relay.'
When there is no chemistry, there are no results. The glaring example of that is the USA team who had a string of failures through 2004–2021, nearly two decades. USA Men's Team in Olympics 2004 Athens: A clumsy exchange left the US men in silver behind Team GB.
2008 Beijing: US dropped the baton, failed to advance beyond the heats.
2012 London: US finished second but were later disqualified for a doping offense.
2016 Rio: US botched the baton exchange and were disqualified.
2021 Tokyo: Once again a clumsy exchange led to them getting knocked out in the heats.
It got so bad in the US, that legendary Carl Lewis snapped and asked the system to be blown up. Driving the Athletics Revolution of India
For an emerging country like India, they cannot afford for this to happen. The quartet have been able to bring the athletics revolution in the country, and one bad event can push that progress back by years.
'With relay, it is not about the 4 fastest athletes, it is about the four guys who are together the fastest. You could pick the four fastest in a team, and then the four who have better chemistry. The ones with better chemistry will win.'
The camaraderie has also helped the four athletes push each other to the limit. And it's not just unity and baton chemistry that's evolved â€' raw speed has too.
In Pics: How Odisha aced the 1st Indian Continental Tour
When James came to India and joined the Reliance Foundation in 2019, the top athletes in India were running 10.5. Earlier, the benchmark of a good sprint runner was seen as 10.5, and if you were running 10.3 and 10.4, you were seen as a hero. If you ran 10.2, then invariably, you had the national record.
Hillier remembers a time when '10.5 was a big deal,' but now, 'guys no one's even heard of' are running 10.2.
'You know Pranav won the Fed Cup. Everyone was thinking that the three Reliance boys will come in the top 3, but the question was in which order, but then Pranav came out of nowhere and won it.'
'Now people are running 10.2, and soon you will see them running 10.1,' Hillier stressed.
The Briton is no less than a visionary. He had predicted way back that a javelin revolution would come to India with Neeraj Chopra. And it did. India now has several stars who throw 80+ meters. The latest entrant in that club is 20-year-old Shivam Lohakare from Maharashtra, who clinched the second spot in the recently concluded Indian Continental Tour in Bhubaneswar. James Hilliers considers all four men to be his favourites (Image Credit: Reliance Foundation)
James states that India's athletics revolution is here, and it is these four athletes â€' Animesh, Guri, Amlan and Manikanta â€' who are driving it.
'They are all my favourites you know, and they all piss me off,' jokes Hillier.
'They are good guys you know. There is good banter. Amlan now winds up Animesh because he won the bronze in World University Games. He has the bragging rights now. But then Animesh winds him up back, saying that I broke your record,' Hillier concluded.
If things go according to plan, the Brothers of Destruction are likely to be one of the medal favourites in the 2026 Asian Games. Their best 38.69s would have secured them the bronze in the previous edition of the competition.
But James is slightly conservative about that. Hope is cruel. It kills.
But medal or no medal, one thing cannot be taken away. It is the fact that Indian athletics is already seeing the ripple effects of the brilliance of this quartet, who are striving to reach a common goal, leaving their egos and inhibitions behind. They all want to be the 'top dog' as Hillier says, but they also share the common goal of taking India to the peak on the world stage.
We don't know if these four will be the ones to do it â€' to stand on the Olympic podium â€' but someday, someone will. And when they do, they'll owe it to the men who turned hope into a system. Not just runners, but builders. Not just a team, but brothers.
On a humid Sunday evening in Odisha, a dejected Lalu Bhoi walked up to the press after finishing fourth in the men's 100m sprint. The local boy, who hoped to be in the medal standings, missed the podium by 0.04 seconds, having clocked 10.54 in the 1st Indian Continental Tour.
The result wasn't the end of the world. Lalu said that he had a tremendous bunch of people around him, who always lent a hand when things got difficult.
'Amlan, Gurindervir, Manikanta, they treat me like their brother. I am doing well (PB 10.34), they tell me that if we do not push each other, then who will? And they tell me that I will also get to the top level, and they will help me get there.'
The words from Lalu give a reflection of an incredible value system that has been built by coaches James Hillier and Martin Owens at the Reliance Foundation. The top four sprinters â€' Animesh Kujur, Gurindervir Singh, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain â€' have broken each other's records in the race to become India's fastest man.
Young Animesh is at the top of the pile right now, having beaten Gurindervir's record at the Dromia meet in Greece. And now he has a target on his back. He cannot sit back and bask in his glory. The Making of Brothers of Destruction
Sprinting is an intense competition. It is an ancient sport that brings out the primal instincts of a man. In 10 seconds or less, you put every single muscle of your body in unison, under intense pressure. When you hear the clap, you get out of the box as fast as you can, and then you run, run and run. It is each man to their own, and it is rare that you find friends on the track in such a hostile environment.
When they are on their own, they are Animesh, Guri, Mani, and Amlan, but together, they become the Brothers of Destruction. The Brothers of Destruction constantly push themselves to get better on the track (Image Credit: Reliance Foundation)
Their camaraderie is more than a nickname. That bond extends off the track as well, one that has been carefully nurtured inside the high-performance environment of the Reliance Foundation.
In Indian sprinting, where most breakthroughs have been individual, this quartet has found something different: identity, rhythm, and trust, together. At the 2025 National Relay Carnival in Chandigarh, they broke the long-standing national record from the 2010 Commonwealth Games (38.89s), clocking a blistering 38.69 seconds.
'You know, they are four great young people. They really are. They're real role models now, and becoming more and more important in the country,' James Hillier, the Athletics Director of the foundation told India Today in an exclusive interview.
Hillier directly oversees the 4x100m squad. In competitions, once they run their individual events, they have to quickly make a shift in mentality to race the 4x100.
That shift in mentality cannot happen without chemistry, says Hillier.
'The camaraderie is very important. And the chemistry as well. You need to know where exactly the baton is going to be. The first leg runner needs to tell the second leg runner where exactly the hand needs to be. So we start creating leaders in the team. So you know, I might be the head coach, but I need them to be coached by each other,' Hillier says.
There are examples of national disasters in the relay event. The teams from the USA and Great Britain have consistently been affected by the lack of chemistry, despite having four of their best sprinters on track. Hillier says that members of the US and GB teams used to dislike each other in the mid-2000s and 2010s, which significantly impacted their performances on the track.
'When Britain won the 4x100m relay in the 2017 World Championships, they did it without Reece Prescod, their fastest runner. He was not buying into the culture, so they kicked him out of the relay.'
When there is no chemistry, there are no results. The glaring example of that is the USA team who had a string of failures through 2004–2021, nearly two decades. USA Men's Team in Olympics 2004 Athens: A clumsy exchange left the US men in silver behind Team GB.
2008 Beijing: US dropped the baton, failed to advance beyond the heats.
2012 London: US finished second but were later disqualified for a doping offense.
2016 Rio: US botched the baton exchange and were disqualified.
2021 Tokyo: Once again a clumsy exchange led to them getting knocked out in the heats.
It got so bad in the US, that legendary Carl Lewis snapped and asked the system to be blown up. Driving the Athletics Revolution of India
For an emerging country like India, they cannot afford for this to happen. The quartet have been able to bring the athletics revolution in the country, and one bad event can push that progress back by years.
'With relay, it is not about the 4 fastest athletes, it is about the four guys who are together the fastest. You could pick the four fastest in a team, and then the four who have better chemistry. The ones with better chemistry will win.'
The camaraderie has also helped the four athletes push each other to the limit. And it's not just unity and baton chemistry that's evolved â€' raw speed has too.
In Pics: How Odisha aced the 1st Indian Continental Tour
When James came to India and joined the Reliance Foundation in 2019, the top athletes in India were running 10.5. Earlier, the benchmark of a good sprint runner was seen as 10.5, and if you were running 10.3 and 10.4, you were seen as a hero. If you ran 10.2, then invariably, you had the national record.
Hillier remembers a time when '10.5 was a big deal,' but now, 'guys no one's even heard of' are running 10.2.
'You know Pranav won the Fed Cup. Everyone was thinking that the three Reliance boys will come in the top 3, but the question was in which order, but then Pranav came out of nowhere and won it.'
'Now people are running 10.2, and soon you will see them running 10.1,' Hillier stressed.
The Briton is no less than a visionary. He had predicted way back that a javelin revolution would come to India with Neeraj Chopra. And it did. India now has several stars who throw 80+ meters. The latest entrant in that club is 20-year-old Shivam Lohakare from Maharashtra, who clinched the second spot in the recently concluded Indian Continental Tour in Bhubaneswar. James Hilliers considers all four men to be his favourites (Image Credit: Reliance Foundation)
James states that India's athletics revolution is here, and it is these four athletes â€' Animesh, Guri, Amlan and Manikanta â€' who are driving it.
'They are all my favourites you know, and they all piss me off,' jokes Hillier.
'They are good guys you know. There is good banter. Amlan now winds up Animesh because he won the bronze in World University Games. He has the bragging rights now. But then Animesh winds him up back, saying that I broke your record,' Hillier concluded.
If things go according to plan, the Brothers of Destruction are likely to be one of the medal favourites in the 2026 Asian Games. Their best 38.69s would have secured them the bronze in the previous edition of the competition.
But James is slightly conservative about that. Hope is cruel. It kills.
But medal or no medal, one thing cannot be taken away. It is the fact that Indian athletics is already seeing the ripple effects of the brilliance of this quartet, who are striving to reach a common goal, leaving their egos and inhibitions behind. They all want to be the 'top dog' as Hillier says, but they also share the common goal of taking India to the peak on the world stage.
We don't know if these four will be the ones to do it â€' to stand on the Olympic podium â€' but someday, someone will. And when they do, they'll owe it to the men who turned hope into a system. Not just runners, but builders. Not just a team, but brothers. Join our WhatsApp Channel