Sin Hombre wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 4:07 pm
The other highlight for me is our re-emergence as a force in the sprints at the Asian Games. Bronze (almost silver) at the men's 200m, silver in the 4*100 women's and likely would have medaled in the 4*100 men's as well if not for the bad baton exchange.
I am curious to hear mugu's take on this. Some of these sprinters are coming from non-traditional parts like Odisha and Haryana so not all spinach?
I would be happy if we could get to consistent Olympic level at non-pure power field events (javelin, long jump, high jump, discus), and dominant at the Asian level at long distance (excluding Kenyans and Ethiopians running for Asian countries) and competitive at the sprints again in Asia.
The sprinters have thrown a surprise this season. I will wait for one or two years to see where they stand in the longer run. To the extent I could make out, Kujur has been tested adequately while others too have undergone tests but perhaps not as regularly as one would expect. I am doubtful about Hoblidar, came out of nowhere and clocked 10.23 in 2023, slumped to 10.48s in 2024 and came up again this season with 10.22s.
Gurindervir has been up and down since clocking 10.27s in 2021. Now he has an NR at 10.20s. There is much talk about sprinters clocking 10.0 flat. Without going veg that looks a tough task.
prasen9 wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 4:25 pm
Haryana is very spinach-oriented.
A lot of our 100-400m women have had potential spinach issues and not just from Haryana — Hima Das, Dutee Chand etc. come to mind. So let’s hope this group does not have issues.
Hima Das, Dutee Chand, Dhanalakshmi Sekar and Archana Suseendran clocked NR of 43.37s for 4x100 in 2021 and three were caught in 2023 and one (Dhanalakshmi) in 2022.
Other female sprinters to be caught for spinach use around the same time included Taranjeet Kaur, M. V. Jilna, Himani Chandel and Diandra Valladares.
Wait and watch how far the new batch would go would be the best policy. At the Asian level they can make a mark, but at the world level one round would be enough for elimination.
indiansportsfan wrote: Tue Jun 03, 2025 4:39 pm
I don't think Hima Das ever failed a drug test, she did miss some tests.
That is correct. Hima Das was never "caught "(doping), she was found to have violated anti-doping rules (whereabouts rules). She never fully underwent suspension either. For, during the period she was deemed to be under suspension she competed! No agency thought it fit to intervene or appeal.
She hasn't run a 400m for more than four years, I think. She has a best of 11.43s for the 100m and 22.88s in the 200m which won't be much at the global level. Her PB of 50.79s in 400m was world-class but she stopped running that distance. Is she going to come back? In what form? For which event? These are questions that remain.
This is the part I don't understand. If she never had a positive dope test in her career, why are we so confident she doped? Was she much smarter than everybody to avoid the dope controls? She must have had to undergo a lot of testing since she was so much in the spotlight
Did you mean dumber than everybody? It is pretty well known even to casual sports fans that the way to avoid a positive test is to avoid the test altogether.
Or perhaps I misunderstood your question. Nowadays, you take stuff (eg. steroids) that improve your performance, for example, by increasing your strength but if you taper off correctly will not be detected in post event testing. It isn’t like a stimulant whose effect wears off very quickly.
Ok, so when she had a meteoric rise to stardom, breaking records left and right, she never had a positive test or a whereabouts related issue. So I can only guess she was clean then. The whereabouts suspension only happened after she is no longer in serious contention, trying to make some sort of half-hearted comeback. I am not sure if that's because she no longer cares enough to meticulously update her whereabouts or if she is taking steroids to recover her strength.
India wins 12 gold in Taiwan Open athletics.
Sub-standard competitions provided a good stage for Indian athletes to get a huge collection of medals from this Continental Tour bronze event. On the second day today, India bagged six gold, three silver and a bronze. https://www.olympics.com/en/news/taiwan ... port-india
India's gold winners:
1. Aboobacker (TJ)
2. Yarraji (100mH)
3. Shirse(110mH)
4. Men 4x100
5. Women 4x100
6. Pooja (1500)
7. Vithya (400mH)
8. Pooja (800)
9. Krishan Kumar (800)
10. Men 4x400
11. Annu Rani (JT)
12. Rohit Yadav (JT)
arjun2761 wrote: Sat Jun 07, 2025 6:04 pm
Did you mean dumber than everybody? It is pretty well known even to casual sports fans that the way to avoid a positive test is to avoid the test altogether.
Or perhaps I misunderstood your question. Nowadays, you take stuff (eg. steroids) that improve your performance, for example, by increasing your strength but if you taper off correctly will not be detected in post event testing. It isn’t like a stimulant whose effect wears off very quickly.
This is correct. No athlete avoids a test unless he or she is certain that they would be caught if the test takes place. A positive test will bring bad name, with a missed test or "whereabouts" failure eventually, one can always argue "I was caught in a traffic jam", "I had just gone out to the market to get a burger", "my mobile was not working" etc. The majority of the public would believe such excuses.
No one can be sure if Hima was on spinach when she burst into world athletics with that junior world championships gold or it could have been a later development when her form dipped.
indiansportsfan wrote: Sat Jun 07, 2025 7:56 pm
Ok, so when she had a meteoric rise to stardom, breaking records left and right, she never had a positive test or a whereabouts related issue. So I can only guess she was clean then. The whereabouts suspension only happened after she is no longer in serious contention, trying to make some sort of half-hearted comeback. I am not sure if that's because she no longer cares enough to meticulously update her whereabouts or if she is taking steroids to recover her strength.
Instead of spoiling your name by missing 3 tests and getting banned, perhaps an easier way is to say one is retired or suspending their career. Then come back later. It is a pretty lame excuse to say that you do nto care to update your whereabouts. Three whereabouts failures. After the first or the second, you should declare yourself retired if you don't care about the sport. If you play the game, you need to play it within the rules. She fought her suspension vigorously. It is hard to believe that one does not care enough not to update their whereabouts information but is ready to get very good lawyers and fight their suspension vigorously. Does not pass the smell test.
She seems like pretty much done. She will be remembered for the 400m silver and the two relay golds in the Asian Games and then disappearing. Of course, the 400m women's national record will also remain. She also accepted a retrospective resolution suspension from NADA. She will also be remembered for her doping suspension.
Mugundan wrote: Sun Jun 08, 2025 2:49 pm
No one can be sure if Hima was on spinach when she burst into world athletics with that junior world championships gold or it could have been a later development when her form dipped.
Agree with this, we will never know if she was on spinach in her junior days or it only started later, but there should be no doubt that she was on it later. Of course, one can choose to be deliberately dig your head in the sand but this is not that kind of forum.
She seems like pretty much done. She will be remembered for the 400m silver and the two relay golds in the Asian Games and then disappearing. Of course, the 400m women's national record will also remain. She also accepted a retrospective resolution suspension from NADA. She will also be remembered for her doping suspension.
Also for being one of only 2 world junior championships gold medalists in history for India in Athletics ( other being Neeraj Chopra). So, sad that her career went this way and looks finished now.
