Painful for Elite Athletes

SAI Should Set Up Its Own Medical Centre

- S.Kannan

DAY by day, the number of mysterious injuries to elite Indian athletes is rising and there is none to explain what really is the problem.

In a week where two superstars — Hima Das and Dipa Karmakar — were rendered hors de combat and unavailable for national duty, there is palpable outrage as to what is going wrong.

For its part, the Indian government, through the sports ministry and the Sports Authority of India is providing full support to hundreds of athletes financially. Under the ACTC (annual competition and training calendar) athletes get plenty of money and full support to train and compete so that they can bring India glory. They also get support under the TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme).

It seems like yesterday Hima Das was running like a hare in Europe and recording good timings. Now, all kinds of speculative stories on her mysterious back injury are doing the rounds as the 20-year-old talented 400-meter runner was withdrawn from the relay team for the World Championship in Doha.