Aiming high through Hima and Johnson
After world U20 gold, eyes on Hima to conquer Asia; Army’s Johnson broke Sriram’s record to raise hopes
NEW DELHI: At the beginning of
2018 season, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) think tank was desperately looking for a quarter-miler to anchor the national 4x400m women’s team in the Jakarta Asian Games.
It wasn’t that those already in the camp were not on track, but they were all runners in the 53-second bracket. When India won the gold at the 2014 Incheon Games, the quartet of Priyanka Pawar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and MR Poovamma had clocked three minutes, 28.68, averaging 52.17 seconds.
There was clearly more room for speed. The search ended in March as Hima Das, the teenager from Assam, decimated a strong field to emerge the 400m champion in the Federation Cup in April, the qualifying event for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Hima constantly touched 52 seconds in top class fields, and the icing on the cake being the 400m final of the World U-20 championships in Finland, where she clocked 51.46 seconds. It has raised hopes of India heralding a new era in track.
In the women’s 400m at Incheon, Kemi Adekoya of Bahrain won in 51.59 secs. But Hima’s ability to do better in each race is an added advantage, she had exhibited that quality in the World junior meet. On paper, Hima with a personal best of 51.13 secs, looks favourite. However, the Indian sprinter will face a stiff challenge from Naser Eid Salwa of Bahrain, who set an Asian record of 49.08 secs in the Monaco Diamond League.
Besides 400m and relay, Hima will also race 200m. With a personal best of 23.10 secs, she is a medal prospect. But she faces strong competition from the likes of Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Zyabkina, whose season’s best is 22.73 secs.
Since PT Usha’s haul of five medals in sprint, including four gold, in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games India haven’t seen individual brilliance on the big stage
though Jyotirmoyee Sikdar won a 800m and 1500m double at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.
Among men, Muhammed Anas set the national mark of 45.24 seconds this season. But he will have to run the race of his life as Qatar’s Abdalelah Haroun Hassan has thrown down the gauntlet with a timing of 44.07 seconds.
In the middle distance races, the focus will be on Army’s Jinson Johnson, who clocked 1:45.65 to win the 800m at the Guwahati inter-state meet and erase the 42-year-old record of 1:45.77 seconds set by Sriram Singh in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. India’s last 800m Asian Games gold came in the 1982 Games through Charles Borromeo. Johnson, who will also race in 1500m, is doing high-altitude training in Bhutan with Olympian Sudha Singh. Seasoned steeplechase runner Naveen Kumar’s testing positive could not have come at a more inopportune time. The Incheon Games bronze winner was a medal prospect but now faces four-year ban.