New Delhi: World junior champion Hima Das’ participation in the World Championships relay events became a matter of intense speculation on Friday after she was left out of the initial entries even though her name can still be added by September 16.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had on September 9 named seven women, including Hima, for the 4x400m relay and 4x400m mixed relay races. But it is learnt that Hima’s name was missing in the initial entry of Indian women athletes for the two relay races submitted by AFI to the IAAF for the September 27 to October 6 showpiece event in Doha.
Jisna Mathew, MR Poovamma, Revathi Veeramani, Subha Venkatesan, V K Vismaya and Ramraj Vithya have been entered for the women’s 4x400m relay, while Hima’s name is missing. The 19-year-old Assamese runner was also not entered for the mixed 4x400m relay race. Jisna, Poovamma and Vismaya were named along with Jacob Amoj, Muhammed Anas and Noah Tom Nirmal.
The AFI has time till September 16 midnight to include Hima in the two relay teams in place of another runner but not after that. The IAAF allows only six names to be entered for the relay races but the AFI had named seven women.
The non-inclusion of Hima in the initial list has put a question mark on her participation as she has been suffering from a lower back pain after the Asian Games last year.
She pulled out of the individual 400m heats during the Asian Championships in Doha in April midway through the race. At that time, deputy chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair had said that the injury was a lower back spasm (at L4 and L5, two lowest vertebrae in the lumbar spine). (PTI)
