National sprinting coach Galina Bukharina has a challenging task to regroup women’s 4x400 m relay squad for 2022 Asian Games 

India’s national 4x400 m women’s relay team were victorious at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. Athletics coach Galina Bukharina, who oversees the national 400 m squad, was given a rousing reception for guiding the Indian girls to victory.

Post the Jakarta Asian Games, however, the national women’s 4x400 m squad did not qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The men’s 4x400 m relay team finished fourth in their heats and also missed out on Tokyo.

With a little over five months to go for the Hangzhou Asian Games, which begin September 10, the women's 400 m runners attending the national camp haven’t exhibited their sprinting skills at the three domestic competitions held so far.

With the exception of MR Poovamma, other female 400 m runners in the camp haven’t dipped below 54 seconds. Moreover, the 2018 batch of female sprinters are almost out of form. Hence, re-grouping the national team for an event like the 400 m, where clipping a fraction of a second can sometimes take almost a year of hard training, will certainly test Galina in her quest to defend the women’s 4x400 m relay title in China.

Assam’s sprinting prodigy Hima Das was a cynosure of all eyes in 2018. She not only won the 400 m title at the 2018 World U20 Championships in Tampere but also won an individual silver at the 2018 Asian Games. She was instrumental in India’s 4x400 m relay victory in Indonesia.

However, a mysterious low-back injury forced Hima to quit the 400 m race in 2019. Since then, she has been focusing on 100 m and 200 m races.

Since 2019, Galina Bukharina hasn’t been able to find another talented athlete like Hima, whose personal best of 50.79 seconds in the 400 m was clocked in 2018.

Saritaben Gayakwad, another member of the victorious Jakarta Asian Games women’s 4x400 m relay team, has quit athletics. Poovamma and VK Vismaya were the other two members of the gold-medal winning team. While Poovamma has made a massive comeback after lying low in 2021, Vismaya is yet to prove herself.

A summary of the women’s 400 m final at the recently concluded 25th National Federation Cup Athletics Championships indicates the early season form of the top athletes. Aishwarya Mishra took gold in 51.18 seconds, followed by MR Poovamma (52.70 secs), Dandi Jyothika Sri (53.90 secs), R Vithya (54.53 secs), Jisna Mathew (54.54 secs), Summy (54.97 secs), and NS Inchara (55.03 secs).

Priya H Mohan, the second fastest runner of this season didn’t compete in the 400 m race.

While Poovamma, Dandi, Vithya, Summy, and Inchara are attending the camp, Aishwarya and Priya will be practising with their personal coaches.

10 women 400 m athletes selected for Turkey tour ahead of 2022 Commonwealth and Asian Games

Bronze medalist Poovamma MR (extreme right) of India during the victory ceremony for the Women's 400m at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon (Getty Images)

In preparation for the national 400 m teams for the Commonwealth and Asian Games, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has shortlisted 10 female 400m athletes. Will Turkey's tour from April 16 to June 6 enable the Indian sprinters to achieve remarkable performances at the 2022 Commonwealth Games or the 2022 Asian Games?

“Foreign exposure tour to Turkey and Poland have been successful in the past. It could be successful this time too,” a national coach associated with the national camp said.

The elite athletes selected by AFI for Turkey exposure are: Jisna Mathew, Dandi Jyothika Sri, Vithya R, Nancy, Summy, Subha V, Rupal Chaudhary, Priya H Mohan, Vismaya VK, Poovamma MR, Anjali Devi. Jisna and Priya are doubtful for the Turkey tour as they might prefer to train in India.

The performance graphs of several of the 400 m elite Indian female athletes in the past have been unsteady. Top athletes have performed beyond expectations during domestic qualification meets but their performance has drastically declined in international competitions.

Take, for example, Haryana’s promising 400 m runner Anjali Devi. She was the fastest 400 m runner of the 2019 season. At the domestic meet in Lucknow, Anjali clocked 51.53 seconds while at the Doha World Athletics Championships, the Indian athlete clocked 52.33 seconds to make a first-round exit.

Anjali didn’t compete at the Federation Cup in Kozhikode earlier this week as she was injured. It would be a miracle if she were able to regain her fitness so close to the Asian Games and win a berth in the relay team.

Priya and Aishwarya, the two fastest female 400 m runners this season wouldn’t be eligible to earn national relay team berths as both are not attending the national camp. As per AFI policy, athletes not attending national camps aren’t eligible to compete for the national relay squads at the international level. The reason for this is that athletes training outside the national camps are not subject to periodical anti-doping tests.

Aishwarya has her future plans chalked out, saying she will focus on the individual 400 m race and not the relay.

“I might not join the national camp in the future as the training program in the past wasn’t beneficial to me,” she said. “I would prefer to practice with my own resources.”