There are quite a few slots to be filled and there is not much time left. So far, 27 Indian athletes from four disciplines have made the cut for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games (July 28 to August 8) while around 11 have made the grade for the Oregon World championships (June 15 to 24).
The five-day SNJ-61st National Inter-State athletics championships beginning here on Friday, will provide the other remaining athletes one last chance to book their tickets to the two events and the qualified ones to show they are a cut above the rest.
All the major Indian stars barring Neeraj Chopra, Seema Punia and Avinash Sable will be participating in the meet.
Olympic gold medallist in javelin throw Neeraj will be taking part in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland while meet record holder in women’s discus Seema, men’s 3000m steeplechase National record holder Sable, will be in the USA.
The 2018 Asian Games 400mH silver medallist A. Dharun is reportedly suffering from fever, but is keen to run.
Exciting battles
There are quite a few battles that would provide excitement. The one between Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin in the men’s long jump will be the most awaited.
In the women’s 100m, Dutee Chand will be the star attraction while in the 200m a good fight is expected between Hima Das, Priya H. Mohan and S. Dhanalakshmi. Priya will have it tough in the 400m with V. Subha, Summy, and Jisna Mathew in the fray. Meanwhile, Aishwarya Mishra’s name has been included in the 400m revised entry list released on Thursday.
Meanwhile Adbullah Aboobacker, U. Karthik, Eldhose Paul, and Praveen Chitravel will be keen to jump further than the others.
Tajinderpal Singh Toor, a National record holder in shot put, said while he has made the cut for the Worlds, he is yet to do it for the CWG. “I am recovering from a wrist injury in my throwing arm. I am looking at 21m,” Tajinder told The Hindu, here on Thursday.
Because of the intense heat and humidity, events will be held in the morning and evening session. There will be no events in the afternoon.
