The Indian women’s 4x400m relay squad might have shone at the Asian Grand Prix series last month to make the cut for the Olympics, but with the team members not training together, the squad’s preparations for the big stage in Beijing look hazy.

Five members of the team — Manjeet Kaur, Mandeep Kaur, Chitra K Soman, Sini Jose and MR Poovamm — are away in Kuala Lumpur as part of their preparations, while Satti Geetha, who was instrumental in India’s victory at the Bangkok and Korat GPs, is training in Secunderabad. Geetha has been a key member of the quartet since 2003. The team had finished seventh at the Athens Olympics.

Jose and Poovamma are relative greenhorns on the international stage, so the onus will be on the quartet of Manjeet, Mandeep, Soman and Geetha.

N Ramesh, the personal coach of Geetha, did not say when his ward was likely to join the other team members. “It has not yet been decided,” he said from Secunderabad. Giving a different logic, Ramesh said that if she were to join the other members in Malaysia, her training would be upset.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has sent the relay team members to Malaysia, along with triple jumper Renjith Maheshwary and heptathlete JJ Shobha, to acclimatise to the time difference between China and India. Moreover, Malaysia is closer to the venue and the team will not be jetlagged when they arrive in Beijing on August 13. The athletics events begin on August 15.

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