Hima Das to miss Tokyo Olympics As 4x100m Relay Team Fails to qualify
Hima Das, who suffered a hamstring injury while competing in 100m heats on Saturday, will not compete in the Tokyo Olympics because the women’s 4x100m relay team, of which she was a member earlier, ran 44.15 seconds at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Patiala, well outside the target time of 43.03 seconds. Hima also attempted to compete in the women’s 200m final, aiming for a qualifying time of 22.80 seconds in order to qualify for the Olympics, but came in sixth in 25.03 seconds. In 24.01 seconds and 21.04 seconds, respectively, PD Anjali (Kerala) and Lovepreet Singh (Punjab) won the women’s and men’s 200m sprints.
After Hima Das withdrew, the Indian women’s 4x100m relay quartet of AK Daneshwari, Archana Suseendran, S Dhanalakshmi, and Dutee Chand ran a meet record of 44.15 seconds, but fell short of their target time of 43.03 seconds, which would have qualified them for the Olympic Games.
Seema Punia, a veteran discus thrower, qualified for the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday with a gold-winning performance of 63.72m on the penultimate day of the Championships.
Punia, 37, broke the Olympic qualifying mark of 63.50m after winning silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2018 Asian Games.
She became the 12th Indian athlete to qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo.
Punia arrived in Patiala in the early hours of Sunday after competing in the Belarus Open Championship last week in Minsk.
She broke the 60m barrier on four of her five legal throws, and in her fourth attempt, she found the power to break the Olympic qualifying record.
She will compete in her fourth Olympic Games, having previously competed in the 2004, 2012, and 2016 editions.
Punia was competing in only her third competition since the 2018 Asian Games, having been without a global ranking due to a glutes (buttocks) injury.
She threw 62.64 metres in the Federation Cup in March, and then 58.62 metres in Minsk on June 25, securing her spot in the Tokyo Olympics with her first throws of more over 63 metres since August 2004 in Kiev.
“With my training, I know I can throw farther, but I was afraid of aggravating the problem with my glutes muscles. I’ve put in a lot of effort over the last two and a half years since the Asian Games, and I’m glad I was able to qualify today “Punia remarked.
“I’ll meet with the Indian Athletics Federation and plan my training schedule for the Olympic Games,” she continued.
Punia will be the second Indian woman to compete in the event at the Olympics, following national record holder Kamalpreet Kaur, who threw the iron disc 66.59 metres in the Indian Grand Prix 4 on Monday.
Kaur did not compete in the event on Tuesday, despite the fact that her name was on the entry list.
Avinash Sable (men’s 3000m Steeplechase), Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (men’s shot put), Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh (men’s javelin throw), M Sreeshankar (men’s long jump), Kamalpreet Kaur (women’s discus Throw), and KT Irfan, Sandeep Kumar, and Rahul Rohila (men) and Bhawna Jat and
Others, such as MP Jabir (men’s 400m hurdles), Dutee Chand (women’s 100m and 200m), and Annu Rani (women’s javelin throw), are expected to qualify for the Olympics based on their world rankings.
Furthermore, the Indian athletics team’s men’s and women’s relay teams, which are now rated 13th and 16th on the Road to Tokyo list, may expand.
The Olympic qualification season ends on Tuesday at midnight, and World Athletics will release the list of qualified participants for the Tokyo Games on Thursday.