Hima Das and other athletes shift base from Patiala due to winter chills

The country's elite quarter milers, including star athlete Hima Das, will shift base from NIS Patiala to Thiruvananthapuram during the winter months in view of the cold conditions in the Punjab city.

Both the male and female 400m runners, who were training at the NIS Patiala, left for the Kerala capital. "Off to Trivandrum for our national camp," Hima tweeted.

Another quarter-miler Daneshwari Thakkannavar tweeted: "Senior National Camp moves from Patiala to Trivandrum. Bye bye to chilly mornings ... for now." An official of the Athletics Federation of India said that it was a temporary measure in view of the cold conditions in Patiala.

"The mornings and evenings are very cold in Patiala these winter months, so the 400m runners, both male and female, and the coaches will shift base to Thiruvananthapuram," the official said. "They will stay there (Thiruvananthapuram) for at least one month or so. Government sanction for foreign tour may come after some time, so before that happens, the athletes may stay at Thiruvananthapuram when winter is extreme (in North India)."

The southern part of the country is experiencing heavy rainfall, which could hinder the training of the athletes, but the official said it should be all right in the next 10 days. Elite athletes shifting base temporarily is not new.

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and some other elite javelin throwers shifted base from NIS Patiala to Bhubaneswar during the winter months (from December 2020 to February 2021) ahead of the Tokyo Games.