Legendary athlete P T Usha today said that ideally members of the gold-winning women's 4x400m relay team should have known it beforehand who would be the running partners in the quartet.
There was confusion all around after the Athletics Federation of India tried to include Ashwini Akkunji in the relay team after her ban period for a dope offence ended on Wednesday.
The completion technical delegate, however, rejected India's request for including Akkunji which led to 800m runner and Usha protege Tintu Luka was drafted into the team.
Though the quartet of Luka, M R Poovamma, Anu Mariam Jose and Nirmala won the gold today, Usha felt that the athletes should have known whether they are running or not together well in advance.
Luka was included in the relay team only yesterday and she ran in the second lap today.
"Ideally, the athletes should have known a week in advance so that they can train together and work out the team strategy," Usha said at a press conference.
Coach of the relay team, N Ramesh though intervened and said that it was not an issue as all the athletes were in top form after continuous training as well as taking part in national competitions.
"It was not an issue as all the quarter-milers were having training for their 400m races. They also had been training for the relay on baton exchange and other techniques," he said.
