Mismanagement of injury keeps Hima out of World Championships, IFSM letter reveals
In a letter to Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) CEO Rajesh Rajagopalan, Dr. Chandran, of IFSM had written about the risks of Hima Das continuing to run despite reports of injury. While coach Radhakrishnan Nair believes India can reach 4x400m mixed relay finals despite the absence of Hima.
It has come to light that President of Indian Federation of Sports Medicine, Dr. PSM Chandran had in May written to the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Rajagopalan about the risks of Hima continuing to run despite reports of injury.
“... media reported that Hima who is in Yokohama for World relay championships is suffering from severe backache, diagnosed as Lumbar Spondylitis, which could turn out to be a career-threatening injury for a runner,” Chandran had then written.
He also specified that instead of traveling with the team, Hima should return and receive treatment from the best possible rehabilitation experts.
“Instead of allowing her to continue traveling with the team, she needs to be called back and her condition assessed by experts in modern medicine as well as in traditional medicine,” wrote Chandran, a sports medicine expert.
Chandran had also questioned gymnast Dipa Karmakar’s injury management in that letter.
“Dipa is undergoing rehabilitation for her injured and operated knee since the 2016 Rio Olympics. Her rehabilitation raises many questions,” Chandran who has worked as a director at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) said.
“The surgeon who had operated her is stationed in Mumbai, her personal physiotherapist is stationed in Jammu and she is stationed in Delhi/Agartala. Dipa has been consulting physiotherapists in SAI, in Sports Injury Centre, Safdarjung Hospital and also some private practitioners.”
Chandan had also raised questions about who is responsible for an anti-gravity treadmill which was “imported at a cost of Rs 38 lakhs" which was especially for Dipa's rehabilitation process and "is now lying idle at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi.”
Hima was ruled out of the World Championships on Wednesday that is beginning on September 27 due to her persistent back injury in a setback to the Indian team which was putting a lot of hope in the newly introduced mixed 4x400m relay event.
India’s 4x400m mixed relay team can reach the final of the Doha World Championships despite the absence of top quarter-miler Hima Das, deputy chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair believes. “Not much difference [with the ruling out of Hima]. We have to stay positive and still believe that we can reach the finals in mixed 4x400m relay,” Nair told PTI on Thursday.
The top eight finishers in the relay events of the World Championships will automatically book their 2020 Tokyo Olympics berth. India qualified for the World Championships as the 14th ranked team in the mixed 4x400m relay based on its Asian Games gold-winning time of 3:15.71 after Bahrain (who had finished first originally) was disqualified due to a doping offence.
Muhammed Anas, Arokia Rajiv, MR Poovamma and Hima Das ran that race in Jakarta. In Doha, however, neither Hima will be there nor Rajiv, who is also laid low with an injury. The team for the mixed 4x400m relay event includes Jasna Mathew, Poovamma and VK Vismaya along with Jacob Amoj, Anas and Noah Tom Nirmal.
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