Hima Das missing from AFI's initial WC entry submitted to IAAF
New Delhi, Sep 13: 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).
Even during her ongoing training stint in Europe, as part of preparations for the World Championships, she has run just one 400m race as she is learnt to be in pain while running longer distances.
Between July 2 and 20, Hima won four gold medals in 200m and one yellow metal in 400m at sub-par races in Europe.
In August, she won a gold in 300m. She could not qualify for the World Championships in her pet event of 400m, with her season's best remaining at 52.09sec as compared to personal best of 50.79.
AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said he is not aware of any decision on Hima's participation in the World Championships.
"I have no information of Hima's latest condition as she is in Europe. There is a doctor with the team in Europe and if she is not fully fit she will not take part (in the World Championships).
"If she runs and pulls out midway, the (relay) team will suffer. She will have to be fit to run the race. Also, she is just 20 and it is better to preserve her for the Olympics. She is young and talented and she will peak by the time of 2024 Olympics, so we should not put undue pressure on her," he said.
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BJP will win only one seat in UP: Akhilesh Yadav
Azamgarh (UP), May 21: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said the INDIA bloc is getting huge support in Uttar Pradesh and claimed that the BJP will lose all Lok Sabha seats except Varanasi.
Addressing a rally in support of SP's Lalganj candidate Daroga Prasad Saroj, Yadav said, "This time, whatever strategy they (BJP) have made, the people of Uttar Pradesh have made up their mind to wipe them out."
Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi as "Kyoto", the former chief minister said, "In the figures and information coming in now, the BJP is in fight in only one seat, that is 'Kyoto', and in all the rest seats the BJP has lost."
Prime Minister Modi had assured to make Varanasi like Kyoto city of Japan known for tourism.
Earlier, as Yadav arrived at the venue, the crowd tried to reach near the dais, forcing police personnel to lathicharge to control them even as the SP leaders on the stage appealed to the gathering to maintain peace.
On Monday too, there was a ruckus in Yadav's rally in Sant Kabir Nagar. Before this, in a joint rally at Phulpur (Pragagraj) with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the two leaders had to leave without addressing the gathering after a huge crowd gathered near the dais.
Addressing the rally on Tuesday, the SP chief said when the elections started, the BJP gave "400 paar" slogan, but now the people are raising slogan of "400 haar".
He said this time 140 crore people of the country will ensure that the BJP does not get even 140 seats.
"You must have heard their (BJP leaders) speeches. They are telling the same old story. No one wants to listen to them. The people have made up their mind and our PDA (backward, Dalit, minority) families will defeat the NDA," Yadav said.
Accusing the BJP of lying, he claimed that every promise made by the BJP has turned out to be false.
He also attacked the BJP on Covid vaccine and said that the vaccine has posed a life threat to the people. "They (BJP) even recovered money from the vaccine company that administered the doses to us."
Lalganj and Azamgarh seats will go to polls on May 25 in the sixth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
