The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) named a 26-member team on Monday. Though most of the names were among expected lines -- either through meeting qualifying standards or through world rankings -- the exclusions of two teams seemed perplexing.
One was the much-hyped women’s 4x400m team. The other? The so-called ‘promising’ 4x100m squad with Dutee Chand and star runner Hima Das in it. The latter, AFI was hoping, would qualify.
The tale of the 4x400m team is intriguing. It had been projected as one of the medal hopes at the Olympics. It was even touted as one of the world’s top teams. The squad trains under a highly acclaimed foreign coach, gets adequate government support.
They even hold the Asian Games record. Now, it needs to be seen if AFI manages to get the 4x400m team in order before the Asian Games next year. Interestingly, the core team on whom the AFI spent a lot of money and resources since the gold medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta about three years ago have suddenly faded. The quartet at the Games in 2018 were Hima, MR Poovamma, Saritaben Gayakwad and VK Vismaya and the timing was 3:28.72s, a shade off the Asian Games (India at Incheon) record of 3:28.68s. They were considered formidable.
Come October 2019, at the World Relays in Doha, there was no Hima (400m national record holder). She had sustained a back injury during the 400m discipline at the Asian Championships in April, 2019, and could not recover on time. In between, the women’s team along with others, were stationed in Poland for more than six months. There, a majority of them ran a few F and E category events. Hima concentrated on the 200m primarily because she did not recover enough to run 400m. So at the World Championships in Doha in 2019, Jisna Mathew and V Subha joined Poovamma and Vismaya. Saritaben suddenly dropped off the radar.
Whatever recovery and training the relay team were targetting was jeopardised by Covid last year. Hima concentrated only on the sprints. She and Dutee were expected to qualify for the 4x100m relay. Even that did not happen. In the end, going by current form, the best 400m runner, Poovamma, too had to leave the camp due to a ‘back injury’ days after the Inter-State championships. Jisna is struggling with her timing.
The 4x400m that was clinging on to their qualification status until the end of the June 29 deadline fell out of the top 16 because there were no members left who could clock beyond the 3:29.42s at the World Championships in Doha. Though disappointed, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla is not too worried. “It was a very bad year because of the pandemic,” he said, adding it hurt their training and competition schedule. “We could not go abroad for anything. And I am pretty sure if we had gone for the World relays in Poland (May 1-2), we would have qualified in both 4x400 and 4x100.”
The AFI chief is confident that the country would be able to field a strong women’s 4x400m team at the Asian Games next year. He is also confident the 4x100m women’s relay would be one of the top teams in the world soon.
Neeraj to train in Sweden
Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who is among the top medal hopes at the Olympics, is training in Uppsala, Sweden but is unlikely to compete. Since there is just about three weeks left for the Games, the 23-year-old thrower is concentrating on his training. His initial plan was to compete at the London Diamond League but that plan has been shelved because of Covid protocols in the UK and also because of restrictions in Japan for those coming from the UK. He is expected to leave for Tokyo on July 26.
The missing four
It’s fair to say time and money has been spent on the women’s 4x400m squad. Having defeated Bahrain to gold at the 2018 Asian Games, they were seen as a prospect to at least reach the Olympic final. A look at what happened to the four who ran that final.
Hima Das
It’s still shrouded in mystery. That was one of the last world class outings over 400m. A spate of niggles has meant she hasn’t run 400m in nearly two years. She tried to qualify for the shorter sprints at the Olympics but another injury has ruled her out.
MR Poovamma
Clearly one of the country’s most seasoned campaigners over the distance. Was a shoo-in to make the mixed squad but suffered a back injury and pulled out of the national camp just before the team was going to be announced.
VK Vismaya
Famously ran that anchor leg in Jakarta. Less than three years later, she has suffered a crisis of confidence. From clocking 52.7 seconds in 2019, she is now running times of 55 seconds or higher to cover the same distance.
Saritaben Gayakwad
Returned to her village in Gujarat after last year’s lockdown. To be honest, she wasn’t going to be in AFI’s plans anyway. She hasn’t run a single competitive race since the Inter-State Championship in Lucknow in Aug 2019.