Hima Das' return imminent after NADA gives nod: Sources

Hima Das (Pic: AFP)

Star India sprinter Hima Das will return to action at the Indian Grand Prix 1 on Tuesday in Bengaluru after a disciplinary panel of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) gave the green signal to her following a hearing last month, according to sources.

The 24-year-old Hima was last year provisionally suspended by the NADA for three whereabout failures in 12 months. Her name figured in the women's 200m race entry list for the Indian Grand Prix 1 on April 30, prepared by the Athletics Federation of India.

"She was set free in a hearing by the NADA Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel last month," an Indian athletics team source told PTI on conditions of anonymity. The source did not elaborate about how the NADA disciplinary panel cleared her to compete again.

Hima had won a 400m individual silver at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. She was also a part of the gold and silver-winning women's 4x400m and mixed 4x400m relay quartets in Jakarta.

The runner from Assam was not named in the Hangzhou Asian Games team last year due to an injury she had sustained earlier this year.

She last ran a race -- a 200m -- during the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru in April last year, where she won a gold with a time of 23.77 seconds. After that, she missed the whole of 2023 season.

In September last year, it had come to light that Hima committed three whereabout failures in a one-year period and she was provisionally suspended by the NADA.

At that time also, there was no clarity on whether Hima's whereabouts failure related to filing or missed test.

She had faced a maximum two-year ban if proven guilty, which can be reduced to a minimum of one year depending on the degree of her fault.

Under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules, any combination of three whereabouts failures -- filing failure and/or missed test -- within a period of 12 months constitute an anti-doping rule violation.

Athletes included in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) must provide full address for their overnight location, the name and full address of each location where they train, work or conduct other regular scheduled activities, as well as the usual time-frames of each activity.

RTP athletes must also identify a 60-minute window and location for each day of the quarter, during which they must be available for testing. Failure to comply with whereabouts and testing obligations will result in a whereabouts failure.

A lower-back problem has been troubling Hima for the past few years. Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair had earlier said that Hima had suffered a hamstring injury too in April last year just before a Grand Prix event in Bengaluru, and she has been on "medical investigation and treatment".

That was why Hima missed the Federation Cup and the National Inter-State Championship in 2023, which was the final selection event for the Hangzhou Asian Games.

(With agency inputs)