India’s women’s 400m is showing serious lapses ahead of the 2026 season. With two major competitions coming up, the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, the current state of the women’s 400m squad is creating doubt.

 

Before we start, it is important to remember that at the Asian Games 2023, the Indian women’s 4x400m team won silver. The team consisted of Vithya Ramraj, Aishwarya Mishra, Prachi Choudhary, and Subha Venkatesan. Last season, AFI appointed a dedicated coach for the women’s 400m, Jerry Lee Holness, a renowned Jamaican coach. As per AFI, all camps have been decentralised except the 400m camp at NCOE Trivandrum.

 

It is also important to note that AFI has a strict policy of including athletes in the 400m relay only from the camp, which, according to them, reduces the risk of doping that could later disqualify the entire team. However, last year, Sneha K, who tested positive for Stanozolol, was a camper and was training with the team. She was part of the relay squad that went to the World Relays to represent India and ran the second leg for India’s mixed relay team. She was tested by AIU there and returned a positive test, which later led to the team’s disqualification.

 

Now, if we look at the top six timings of 2025 in women’s 400m, out of the six, there are only two campers. One of them is Sneha K, who is currently suspended, leaving only Rupal. Rupal trains under Jason Dawson, the men’s team coach, and not under Jerry. She is also currently suffering from a knee injury and has not been able to train, which casts a shadow over her season.
This means there are effectively no campers in the top six who are currently able to be part of the relay team. If we look at the top eight, there is only one other camper, Subha Venkatesan, who is eighth with a season best of 53.35s.

Although when it comes to relays, there is no one more experienced than Subha, her anchor leg run at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025 still gives goosebumps to many. She is known as India’s GOAT in relay events. However, she last competed at the Asian Athletics last year, and several reports suggest she has been suffering from an injury since then.

 

The Sports Ministry recently updated the TOP Scheme list, where they included Jyothika Sri Dandi, Subha Venkatesan, Jisna Mathew, and Rupal as 4x400m probables. But out of these four, Rupal and Subha are injured. Jyothika has been injured since last year and has not competed since then, while Jisna last competed in August 2025, and her season-best timings place her tenth in India this season.

 

nnis Sports reached out to several coaches to understand their views on the women’s 4x400m relay ahead of the Asian Games. One coach reacted, “Planning for the women’s relay this season has been very uncertain, and AFI’s new coach, Jerry Lee Holness, has not been able to produce results. Among the top four Indian women in the 400m this season, only one—Rupal—is a camp athlete, and even she trains under Jason, not Jerry.”

 

The coach further added, “Neeru, Aishwarya, Kiran Pahal, and Himanshi Malik are very inconsistent athletes. You cannot rely on them for a long-term plan. On the other hand, Jyothika, Poovamma, Vithya, Rupal, and Subha are consistent performers—some are in camp, others are outside. If they are properly channelled and given opportunities to run in the relay, they could be a strong option for the Asian Games 2026, especially since the other camp athletes are juniors currently running in the 54–55 second range.”

 

The plan AFI is expected to execute is to finalise the relay team at the Open 400m on March 28, 2026, which will be the season opener for all athletes. They will then have to decide the team for the Relay Carnival in Chandigarh on April 18.

 

Looking at the current state of the women’s 400m campers, AFI may have only one option left: to include athletes from outside the camp who are currently under the RTP list of NADA.