Haryana’s Himanshi Malik, India’s quickest feminine 400m runner this yr. Photo: Special association
| Photo Credit: Special association
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It’s a wonderful solid, one loaded with intrigue.
The ladies’s 400m entry record for the inter-state Nationals, which start in Bhubaneswar later this week, has names like Rezoana Mallick Heena, the Asian under-20 and under-18 champion, Federation Cup winner Priya Mohan, final yr’s under-20 Worlds bronze medallist Rupal Chaudhary and women like Aishwarya Mishra and Anjali Devi who’ve run some sensational occasions prior to now however have additionally raised eyebrows in lots of quarters.
And there’s Nirmala Sheoran, who received the 400m gold and helped India to the 4x400m ladies’s relay title on the 2017 Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar however had all of it taken away after she failed a dope-test in 2018 and was handed a four-year ban. She’s again now after the ban.
But there’s one quartermiler, who doesn’t determine among the many above names, who has quietly run the nation’s quickest 400m this yr. Haryana’s Himanshi Malik, who took the varsities Nationals 400m title in a formidable 52.99s in Chennai in March, got here up with one other beautiful time, 52.75s, whereas profitable the Haryana State title in Karnal lately, beating Nirmala Sheoran (54.21s).
That made Himanshi the fourth quickest quartermiler in Asia this yr. The 21-year-old from Rohtak can be opening her AFI National season in Bhubaneswar.
“Himanshi is capable of running below 52s at the Inter-State and she will try to get the gold,” Ramesh Sindhu, who has been teaching her for the final two years, instructed The Hindu from Rohtak on Monday.
“She is very strong, her father is a weightlifting coach in Haryana, and her finishing is very good. But her training ‘age’ in athletics is very little, she has been running for just about three years. After some time, she will be running very well.”
“If Himanshi is called for the camp, she will also go,” he stated.
And her progress within the final couple of years have been magical. Two years in the past, her greatest time within the 400m was 57.06s, late final yr she introduced it all the way down to 53.53 and now her private greatest is 52.75s.
The ladies’s quartermile may throw up many surprises in Bhubaneswar.
