New Delhi: A 59-member Indian contingent will participate at the Asian Athletics Championship in Gumi, South Korea, from May 27-31. Some of the top names in the India squad are Avinash Sable in men's 3000m steeplechase, long distance runner Gulveer Singh, who is on a record-breaking spree this year, decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, and women's 3000m steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary.
Gulveer broke his own 10,000m national record in a meet in the US with a timing of 27:00.22s. The Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist also set a national record in 5000m (12:59.77), making the cut for the world championships in Tokyo in September. In the previous Asian Championships, Gulveer had won bronze in 5000m and finished 5th in 10,000m. This time he will be expected to better his positions. While Gulveer will compete in both races, promising Sawan Barwal, who won Federation Cup gold with a meet record (28:57.13) will join him in the 10000m. Abhishek Pal, who won bronze in 5000m last time, will feature in the same.
Asian Games champion Sable will have his first competitive outing of the year on Saturday at the Diamond League in Xiamen, China, where he will be up against a quality field that includes Olympic and world champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco and Commonwealth Games champion Abraham Kibiwot.
India finished third behind Japan (37) and China (22) in the 2023 Asian meet in Bangkok with 27 medals that included six gold, 12 silver and nine bronze. Continental champions Parul Chaudhary (steeplechase), Jyothi Yarraji (hurdles), and Abdulla Aboobacker (triple jump) are all part of the India team. However, Asian Games champion shot putter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor was left out as he was not able to breach the Asian qualification standard of 19.10m.
Toor, who has long dominated domestic meets, finished second in the Federation Cup. Samardeep Singh Gill took the top prize with a throw of 19.34m and also booked a berth for the Asian meet.
In javelin, the onus will be on Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh -- the top two throwers this season -- to finish on the podium.
Tejaswin, the Asian Games silver medallist in decathlon, impressed at Federation Cup with a gold medal (7603 points).
Long jumper Shaili Singh, who failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, has made a good start to the season with a big jump of 6.68m in the Federation Cup in Kochi on Thursday. She will compete along with Asian Games silver medallist Ancy Sojan.
Triple jumper Praveen Chithravel, who equalled his national record of 17.37m, and Aboobacker have shown good form this season and would be favourites to finish on the podium. Chithravel leads the table in Asia this season and Aboobacker is third.
No Gurindervir, Manikanta in individual events
Animesh Kujur, who broke the national record in 200m, would be closely watched. However, AFI has not picked any sprinter in the men's 100m that has seen some impressive performances this season.
Gurindervir broke the national record at the Indian GP (10.20s) but he finished last in Federation Cup (11.21) earlier this week. Manikanta Hoblidhar achieved the qualifying mark set by AFI (10.25s) in semi-finals but it wasn't enough for selectors to give him the nod. He finished third in the final of Fed Cup in which no sprinter achieved the cut of 10.25s. They are, however both part of 4x100m relay teams.
