ODISHA | AFI ANNOUNCE HUGE SQUAD FOR ASIAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Asian Athletics Championships 

is again returning to India after a gap of just 4 years. Bhubaneshwar, capital of Odisha has been selected as the venue to hold this year’s championships. 

The Indian squad comprises of 48 men and 47 women. Out of these, the participation of seven athletes would be subject to their passing fitness trials in Bhubaneswar ahead of the Asian Athletics Championship. Two women athletes, hurdler and long jumper Nayana James and triple jumper Joyline Murali Lobo as well as discus thrower Vikas Gowda, long jumper Siddharth Mohan Naik and triple jumper Karthik U would undergo trials on June 30 while high hurdler Siddhanth Thingalaya would face a trial on July 2, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said in a statement.

The Men squad:

• 100m and 200m: Amiya Kumar Mallick;


• 400m: Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob and Arokia Rajiv;


• 800m: Jinson Johnson and Vishambhar Keolkar;


• 1500m: Ajay Kumar Saroj and Siddhantha Adhikari;


• 5000m: G Lakshmanan and Murli Kumar Gavit;


• 10,000m: Lakshmanan, Gopi Thonakal and Kalidas Hirave;


• 3000m steeplechase: Naveen Kumar and Durga Bahadur Budha;


• 110m hurdles: Siddhant Thingalaya* and Prem Kumar;


• 400m hurdles: Jabir MP, Santhosh Kumar T and Durgesh Kumar Pal;


• Pole vault: S Siva;


• High jump: Chethan B and Ajay Kumar;


• Long jump: Ankit Sharma, Samsheer SE and Siddharth Mohan Naik*;


• Triple jump: Arpinder Singh and Karthik U*;


• Shot put: Tajinder Pal Toor, Jasdeep Singh Dhillon and Omprakash Singh Karhana;


• Discus throw: Vikas Gowda*, Dharamraj Yadav and Kirpal Singh;


• Hammer throw: Niraj Kumar;


• Javelin throw: Neeraj Chopra,Davinder Singh Kang and Abhishek Singh;Decathlon: Jagtar Singh and Abhishek Shet


• 4x100m relay: Amiya Kumar Mallick, Jyotishankar Debnath, Anuroop John, VK Elakkiya Dasan, Pravin Muthukumaran and Chintha Sudhakar;


• 4x400m relay: Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Sachi Roby, Mohan Kumar and Kunju Muhammed

The Women squad:

• 100m and 200m: Dutee Chand and Srabani Nanda;


• 400m: Nirmala, MR Poovamma and Jisna Mathew;


• 800m: Tintu Luka, Archana Adhav and Lili Das;


• 1500m: Monika Choudhary;


• 5000m: L Suriya and Sanjivani Jadhav;


• 10,000m: L Suriya, Sanjivani Jadhav and Meenu;


• 3000m steeplechase: Sudha Singh and Parul Chaudhary;


• 100m hurdles: Nayana James;


• 400m hurdles: Anu R, Jauna Murmu and Arpitha M.


• Pole vault: KM Sangeeta; High jump: Sahana Kumari and Swapna Barman;


• Long jump: Nayana James*, Neena V and G Karthika;


• Triple jump: Sheena NV and Joyline Murali Lobo*.


• Shot put: Manpreet Kaur, Ramanpreet Kaur and Anamika Das;


• Discus throw: Kamalpreeet Kaur Bal, Seema Punia and Himani Singh;


• Hammer throw: Sarita R Singh and Gunjan Singh;


• Javelin throw: Annu Rani, Poonam Rani Singh and Suman Devi.


• Heptathlon: Swapna Barman, Purnima Hembram and Liksy Joseph.


• 4x100m relay: Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, Merlin Joseph, Reena George, Ruma Sarkar and Himashree Roy;


• 4x400m relay: Nirmala, Poovamma, Jisna Mathew, Vijayakumari GK, Sarita Ben Gayakwad and Debashree Mazumdar.

The events will start on 5^th July and will end on 9^th July. This the 3^rd time India Is hosting the Asian Athletics Championship. Previous Indian cities to hold the championships were New Delhi and Pune in the years 1989 and 2013 respectively. More than 800 athletes from over 40 Asian countries will participate in this year’s edition. The main venue will be the world class Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneshwar. The winner in each event will get a direct entry into the World Athletics Championships in London to be held in August which will surely increase the level of competition.

India have named a strong 95-member team for the championships. Which includes world class athletes like Siddhant Thingalaya, Vikas Gowda, Neeraj Chopra, Dutee Chand, Annu Rani to name a few. India is a strong favorite to win this year’s edition along with China. Most of the Indian athletes are in a really good form at the moment which should show in their performances.

Let’s hope all the athletes perform really well and make the country proud!"

-By VIVEK

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