BENGALURU: Leading triple jumper Praveen Chitravel and long jumpers Jeswin Aldrin and M Sreeshankar will be more in focus behind Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and steeplechaser Avinash Sable as the Indian team for the World Athletics Championships was announced on Tuesday.
The major shock from the team news is the absence of Asian champion shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor who has reportedly pulled out with a groin injury. "I felt the pain after my first attempt and I made the second throw ignoring the pain. But then I decided to stop," Toor had told TOI about the groin injury after winning the gold at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok.
Chitravel's performance will be keenly watched after he skipped the Asian meet. Since May, the Tamil Nadu athlete has participated in just three meets. The first was on May 6, when he set a new national mark of 17.37m in La Habana.
The remaining two meets were the 17.07m in Bhubaneswar in June and 16.59m effort in Herc, Monaco last month.
"It will be a tough ask for Chitravel as he has competed in just three meets since May. For Jeswin, the Worlds will be a stiff test to repeat his big performances. After leaping to 8.42m in Ballari in March he has never managed to come close to that with his next best being the 8.22m he did to win the Bern meet last week," a top coach told TOI.
Both Chitravel and Aldrin were in the world lead after their giant leaps in Ballari and the duo now enter the meet ranked in the top-10.
While Chitravel was ranked sixth in World Athletics Road to Budapest rankings in men's triple jump, Jeswin and Sreeshankar are slotted third and fourth in men's long jump. Among the trio, Sreeshankar has emerged as the most consistent with four jumps above the 8.25m mark. His best of 8.41 was also a t home but he has an equally impressive 8.37m (with a headwind of 1.1m) that won him the silver in Bangkok.
Meanwhile, Chopra and Sable will once again be the flag bearers. Chopra can be proud of his trailblazing effect in javelin throw. Manu DP and Kishore Kumar Jena too are capable of joining Chopra in the final.
In the women's section, it will be a big learning curve for both Jyothi Yarraji (100m H) and young Shaili Singh (long jump) as they compete against the cream of world's top athletes.
The Teams
Men: Neeraj Chopra, DP Manu & Kishore Kumar Jena (Javelin Throw); Krishan Kumar (800m), Ajay Kumar Saroj (1500m); Santhosh Kumar Tamilarnsan (400m Hurdles); Avinash Mukund Sable (3000m Steeplechase); Sarvesh Anil Kushare (High Jump), Jeswin Aldrin & Murali Sreeshankar (Long Jump); Praveen Chithravel, Abdulla Aboobacker & Eldhose Paul (Triple Jump); Akashdeep Singh, Vikash Singh & Paramjeet Singh (20km Race Walk); Ram Baboo (35km Race Walk); Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal, Muhammed Anas, Rajesh Ramesh, Anil Rajalingam & Mijo Chacko Kurian (Men's 4x400m Relay).
Women: Jyothi Yarraji (100m Hurdles); Parul Chaudhary (3000m Steeplechase); Shaili Singh (Long Jump); Annu Rani (Javelin Throw); Bhawna Jat (20km Race Walk).
