Spotlight now shifts to track & field
In the absence of Olympic champion and World Championships silver medallist Neeraj Chopra, recuperating from an injury, the focus will shift to Annu Rani (women's javelin throw), long jumper Murali Sreeshankar and middle distance runner Avinash Sable to keep the Tricolour flying high as the six-day athletics programme begins at the Alexander Stadium on Tuesday.
Rani, who did a best of 56.37m in 2014, will hope to win a rare medal for the country after Chopra won the men's event at the Gold Coast Games in 2018.
Rani will be among the medal contenders if she can repeat her season's best of 63. 82m. At the Oregon World Championships recently, Rani managed a best of 61. 12m that got her the seventh place. The Indian squad also comprises Seema Punia and Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, who won the silver and bronze respectively in women's discus throw at the 2018 Games. Sreeshankar, despite failing to do his best in the World Championships final, will look for one big leap that will land him the coveted medal.
After all the agony following his flop show at the Tokyo Olympics, the youngster has bounced back in style with season-leading performances in the run-up to the Worlds.
The Indian champion will be in action on Tuesday in the qualification rounds. The final is scheduled on August 4. Suresh Babu's bronze, with a wind-aided leap of 7. 94m, at the Edmonton Games in 1978 remains India's only medal from the event.
In triple jump, Eldose Paul will aim to emulate another legend Mohinder Singh Gill who won the silver at Christchurch in 1974. Renjith Maheswary's effort of 17.07m at the 2010 Delhi Games is the best Indian performance.
"Neeraj's gold has given the young Indian athletes a big dose of confidence. They don't travel now just to compete, they all want to win a medal," an Indian team coach told TOI.
Admitting that competition at CWG would be tough, the coach said: "It's going to be difficult for our athletes but we have quite a few here who have got the talent to win medals including in men's jumps and women's throws."
In high jump, national record holder Tejaswin Shankar, who got into the squad with legal help despite winning the NCAA championship with a height of 2.27m last month, too will aim to make an impression. At Gold Coast, Shankar came a creditable sixth with a best of 2. 24m. Bhim Singh's fourth place at Edinburgh in 1970 is the country's best ever show.
Middle distance ace Sable, who failed to match the tactics of leading runners at Oregon, will face another stiff test against the top runners from Africa and hosts Britain. The Army athlete will compete in two events - 3000m steeplechase and the 5,000m (both events scheduled on August 6).
The relay squads, who were always in the spotlight, will keep a low profile but according to experts the women's 4x100m squad comprising Dutee Chand, Hima Das, Srabani Nanda and NS Simi could pull off a surprise.
