Blow for India as injured Hima to miss Asiad

Bhubaneswar, June 14

Star sprinter Hima Das will miss the Asian Games in China due to a hamstring injury, Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair confirmed today.

The 23-year-old Hima had won the 400m silver at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. She was also part of the women’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m quartets that won the gold and silver, respectively.

“It is unfortunate she (Hima) was injured a day before the Indian Grand Prix IV in Bengaluru (on April 15),” Nair said. “She pulled a hamstring and also had back problem. Now, medical investigation and planning for treatment is going on. I believe that she will not be able to participate in the Asian Games as per the policy of the federation (AFI),” he added.

Due to the injury, Hima had also missed the Federation Cup in Ranchi last month. Nair had then told PTI that the federation was hoping that she would be fit to take part in the National Inter-State Championship, which is the final selection event for the Hangzhou Asian Games.

The National Inter-State Championship begin here tomorrow. The AFI had made is clear that all the athletes, except for those granted exemption, will have to participate in the championship to be considered for the Asian Games.

No Neeraj at Nationals

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable were exempted from the five-day championship.

In the absence of Chopra and Sable, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar will be the star attraction after his maiden third place finish at the Paris Diamond League last week with an effort of 8.09 metres.

He will renew is rivalry with Jeswin Aldrin, who had snatched Sreeshankar’s national record with an 8.42m jump earlier in the year.

Other top draws among the men will be sprinter Amlan Borgohain (200m), Tejaswin Shankar, who will participate in decathlon and not high jump, shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, triple jumpers Praveen Chitravel and Eldose Paul. Among the women, Dutee Chand is serving a suspension for a dope offence. That leaves the likes of sprinter Jyothi Yarraji (100m and 100m hurdles), long distance runner Parul Chaudhary (5000m and 3000 steeplechase), long jumper Shaili Singh and javelin thrower Annu Rani as the top stars.