She is the World junior 400m champion and the Asian Games silver medallist but nobody is sure whether Hima Das would be able to run the quarter-mile in a major international meet again.
Two years ago, when Hima broke the 400m National record with a stunning 50.79s at the Jakarta Asiad, many wondered how long it would take for the young Assam girl to go below 50s. Just a month earlier, Hima had won the under-20 Worlds gold in Finland, the first Indian woman to do so.
But something snapped last year. Hima pulled out midway through the 400m with a back injury at the Doha Asians in April and though she ran two 400m races in the Czech Republic, she only clocked 53.07s in her last race in August and missed September’s Doha Worlds.
Strangely, the back injury did not appear to trouble Hima in the 200m, she won five races last year in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Almost a year has gone by, so will Hima, now 20, be fit for the quarter-mile this year?
Work-load
“We don’t know, she started three weeks ago, we will have to see how she responds to training. She had a lot of issues with her back.
“Though she has been treated, we will have to see when she actually takes the load whether she can run the 400m. If she can’t, we will switch her to 200m,” said Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla to The Hindu.
“She’s got the speed to even run the 100m, whether we will put her there time will tell. The federation is doing what is in the best interest of the athlete. And there are times when I have to hold back on certain things.”
“Till I know the full results, I’m not going to give any explanation to anybody. I don’t owe an explanation to anybody, I owe it to the athlete. There is also something called ‘athlete privacy’,” said Sumariwalla.
“I will protect my athlete’s privacy about the injury or whatever it is. Nobody has a right to know.”
