General
India earned their ticket to Tokyo after qualifying for the final at the 2019 World Championships in Doha with the seventh-fastest time in the heats. They ran a faster time in the final, but it was only good enough for seventh place. Earlier that year, the Indian team failed to make the final of the 2019 World Relays, their only appearance at the tournament to date.
At continental level India won silver behind Bahrain at the 2019 Asian Championships in Doha. The previous year, India crossed the line in second place at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, but in 2019 they were upgraded to the gold medal position after original winners Bahrain were disqualified for an anti-doping violation.