IAAF World Relays: Hima doubtful as India women eye Olympic berth

Hima Das has a personal best of 50.79 seconds which she clocked at the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018. However, her recent performance is not so impressive as she has been struggling to dip below 52 seconds.

Yokohama: Chances of India's women's 4x400m relay squad sealing an automatic berth for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have suffered a major blow, with top runner Hima Das is yet to recover from a back spasm as the two-day World Relays begin today here.

The heats for all the key races at the World Relays will take place on Saturday. The finalists of the top 8 nations will get a direct entry to the Olympics while the top 10 ten finishers will qualify for the Doha World Athletics Championships starting September 28.

The Indian women's team's luck will largely depend on Das's performance. She has a personal best of 50.79 seconds which she clocked at the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018. However, her recent performance is not so impressive as she has been struggling to dip below 52 seconds.

According to deputy chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair, the teenager from Assam has started training, but her availability is not certain for the race.

IAAF World Relays will take place at Yokohama International Stadium, Japan.

“She isn’t 100 per cent fit,” Nair said. “Of the six athletes in the team, Galina Bukharina (chief coach) will take a final call on Saturday which four will compete.”However, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) was hopeful that VK Vismaya, another regular runner in the squad since 2018, would break the 52-second barrier in the build-up to the Yokohama competition.

But, the promising Kerala sprinter's best in this season is 53.27 seconds.

With Das's national record-breaking performance in 2018, India was relying on her form in the 4x400m race.

In Das' absence, AFI is now likely to field the same set of runners that won silver at Doha: Prachi, MR Poovamma, Saritaben Gayakwad and VK Vismaya.