Ace sprinter Hima Das will not be participating in the 400m race at the Doha World Championships in October later this year because she is yet to qualify.
An Athletics Federation of India (AFI) official informed that there would be no more competitions for women sprinters.
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“They are all in the loading phase and will not participate any more till the Worlds,” reported Sporstar quoting the AFI official confirmed.
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This puts Hima Das out of the competition in the 400m event as she has not been able to qualify for it even though she has won 6 gold medals recently.
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The official further added that Hima Das has been suffering from a back problem and they need to assess the extent of it.
“What Hima has is spondylolysis, which is a degenerative stress fracture and needs more rehab than anything else,” the official added.
The ace Indian sprinter may not even be fielded in the 4x400m relays if she isn’t fit.
National coach Radhakrishnan Nair, however, denied all the rumours of her injuries and said that Hima in July and August earlier this year ran the 400m in the Czech Republic.
“The reason we are not looking at her participating or trying to qualify for the individual event as we are trying to actually get a medal in the relays,” Nair told Sportstar.
Nair further informed their priority is to finish in the top-eight in relays at Doha so that the team don’t have to run around for Tokyo qualifications next year.
“We want Hima at her best for the relays,” Nair further said.
Another AFI official, however, said that Hima has a little realistic hope to qualify in the 400m as her average timings this year has been poor.
“Even if she manages to do so, there is little or no chance of her managing to cross the preliminary stage even,” the sources said.
“In such a scenario, there is little sense in trying to load her with an extra event,” they added.
Hima Das since the Federation Cup in March has run only in two 400m races and her timing has not been good for she has failed to go under 52 seconds.