Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra has already bought tickets to the next World Athletics Championships in Tokyo that will be attended by Indian athletes. However, heptathlete Nandini Agasara who had already secured the right to be the Asian champion stated that she will not participate due to an elbow injury dropping the numbers of athletes to 17.
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar who had not participated in the 2024 Paris Olympics due to knee surgery surgery got into Tokyo competition at the very last minute. The 36 th and last position was awarded to him after World Athletics revised its qualification rankings on Wednesday and the move brought joy to the Indians athletics contingent.
Sreeshankar has reigned supreme since his return in July with five consecutive consecutive wins. He has season-best of 8.13m (August 10, his performance was at the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level meet in Bhubaneswar). Nevertheless, he was not able to obtain the automatic qualification mark of 8.27m and had to qualify according to rankings.
The World Athletics Championships are qualifies in two ways. The athletes will be able to gain an automatic entry by exceeding the qualifying standard, and the rest of the places is distributed by the world ranking quota. In the case of India, a number of the athletes such as Pooja (1500m), Ankita Dhyani (3000m steeplechase) and Sarvesh Anil Kushare (high jump) cut the race using this route.
The final team will now be decided by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Its selection team will convene on Thursday and they may skip out athletes who have technically qualified. This leeway can have implications on the cases of 20km race walker Akshdeep Singh, who has not been competing since April.
In the meantime, Animesh Kujur made history when he became the first Indian sprinter to be eligible in the men 200m race at the world athletics. His involvement is a major step forward with India slowly increasing its presence outside of the middle and long distance events.
India will have a powerful team in javelin throw. Chopra is the defending champion and already has a wild card and is accompanied by Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh. In case Rohit Yadav who has just won the gold medal at the National Inter-State Championships scales the ladder higher, India may end up having four representatives of the javelin.
Chopra already had the automatic qualification mark of 85.50m which made him the spearhead of the Indian campaign. “Rohit is certain to qualify for the showpiece event as the fourth Indian men’s javelin thrower,” an AFI official told PTI, giving an indication of a record representation in the event.
Other than Chopra, a few more acquired their positions by violating qualifying marks. Gulveer Singh (5000m steeplechase), Parul Chaudhary (3000m steeplechase) and Praveen Chithravel (triple jump) all passed the automatic mark. The unfortunate was that Avinash Sable had also done so but he was ruled out after injury and surgery.
Women 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji was also hit by injuries and was in the race only until her season was cut short. This kind of withdrawal throws light on the physical requirements of the athletes as they strive to secure positions at the top.
India’s Confirmed List Includes: Neeraj Chopra, Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh, Rohit Yadav (Javelin), Murali Sreeshankar (Long Jump) (5000m), Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Aboobacker (Triple Jump), Annu Rani (Women’s Javelin), Priyanka Goswami and Ram Baboo (Race Walk) (20KM Walk), Pooja (1500m), and Sarvesh Anil Kushare (High Jump).
India is gearing up to deliver one of its best performances at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo with Chopra in the head of the campaign and a number of athletes joining it late. The performance of the nation now will be determined by the way these 17 athletes will cope with the pressure of the international arena.
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