22nd Asian Athletics championship: Indian athletes keyed up to the continental challenge

Having finished a creditable third at the last meet two years back at Wuhan in China with four gold, five silver and four bronze medals behind Asian superpower China (15g, 13s, 1b) and Middle-East power-horse Qatar (7g, 2s, 1b), the hosts are well prepared to make this championship a memorable one.

The run up to the prestigious championship was not smooth.

The meet was to be hosted in Ranchi but official apathy put the Athletics Federation of India and Jharkhand Athletic Association in a spot of great bother.

In walked Odisha Athletic Association which garnered the support of the government of Odisha whose sports loving chief minister Naveen Patnaik promised to make the championship a success.

In flat ninety days the stadium was turned into a world class venue.

All the work related to hosting of the championship was completed well on time.

The State government’s determination and the love of  the people of Odisha made the championship a reality from the realms of imagination.

Now it is the turn of the 95 athletes of India to take the dream further with stellar performances in the next four days.

India never dominated the Asian scenario in the past but there is enough room for improvement.

Forty-four countries out of 45 affiliated to the Asian Athletic Association are here with their athletes making it a record entry of 657.

Among the track and field stars the most celebrated could be Rio Olympic champion in men’s hammer throw Dilshod Nazarov Kazakhstan.

He is undoubtedly the best in the field in terms of achievement. He could be the cynosure of all here.

China’s pole vault champion Li Ling is going for her third gold.

She won her maiden gold at Pune in 2013 and retained the title two years later at Wuhan.

Another Chinese who could be in the limelight is women’s long jumper Huang Changzhou.

John Koech of Bahrain will be defending his 3000m steeplechase. 

India will be looking up to junior world record holder Neeraj Chopra in men’s javelin to make an impact while a host of others will try to finish at the podium.

AFI president Adille Sumariwalla feels Indians are capable of garnering more medals than the last championship.

Among the medal hopes are Odiya women sprinters Dutee Chand and Srabani Nanda as well Amiya Kumar Malick in the men's sprints, javelin thrower Annu Rani, long jumper Ankit Sharma, steeplechaser Sudha Singh and quarter-miler Nirmala besides the 4x400m women's relay team besides Chopra are expected to make a terrific mark.

And the additional motivation comes from the fact that all the gold medal winners will automatically qualify for the World championship in London in August.

The Indian squad:

Men:

100m and 200m: Amiya Kumar Mallick

400m: Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob and Arokia Rajiv

800m: Jinson Johnson and Vishambhar Keolkar

1500m: Ajay Kumar Saroj and Siddhantha Adhikari

5000m: G Lakshmanan and Murli Kumar Gavit

10,000m: Lakshmanan, Gopi Thonakal and Kalidas Hirave

3000m steeplechase: Naveen Kumar and Durga Bahadur Budha

110m hurdles: Siddhant Thingalaya and Prem Kumar

400m hurdles: Jabir MP, Santhosh Kumar T and Durgesh Kumar Pal

Pole vault: S Siva

High jump: Chethan B and Ajay Kumar

Long jump: Ankit Sharma, Samsheer SE and Siddharth Mohan Naik

Triple jump: Arpinder Singh and Karthik U;

Shot put: Tajinder Pal Toor, Jasdeep Singh Dhillon and Omprakash Singh Karhana;

Discus throw: Vikas Gowda*, Dharamraj Yadav and Kirpal Singh;

Hammer throw: Niraj Kumar;

Javelin throw: Neeraj Chopa, Davinder Singh Kang and Abhishek Singh;

Decathlon: Jagtar Singh and Abhishek Shetty;

4x100m relay: Amiya Kumar Mallick, Jyotishankar Debnath, Anuroop John, VK Elakkiya Dasan, Pravin Muthukumaran and Chintha Sudhakar;

4x400m relay: Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jaco, Arokia Rajiv, Sachi Roby, Mohan Kumar and Kunju Muhammed.

Women:

100m and 200m: Dutee Chand and Srabani Nanda;

400m: Nirmala, MR Poovamma and Jisna Mathew;

800m: Tintu Luka, Archana Adhav and Lili Das;

1500m: Monika Choudhary;

5000m: L Suriya and Sanjivani Jadhav;

10,000m: L Suriya, Sanjivani Jadhav and Meenu; 3000m steeplechase: Sudha Singh and Parul Chaudhary;

100m hurdles: Nayana James;

400m hurdles: Anu R, Jauna Murmu and Arpitha M.

Pole vault: KM Sangeeta; High jump: Sahana Kumari and Swapna Barman;

Long jump: Nayana James, Neena V and G Karthika;

Triple jump: Sheena NV and Joyline Murali Lobo;

Shot put: Manpreet Kaur, Ramanpreet Kaur and Anamika Das;

Discus throw: Kamalpreeet Kaur Bal, Seema Punia and Himani Singh;

Hammer throw: Sarita R Singh and Gunjan Singh;

Javelin throw: Annu Rani, Poonam Rani Singh and Suman Devi.

Heptathlon: Swapna Barman, Purnima Hembram and Liksy Joseph.

4x100m relay: Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, Merlin Joseph, Reena George, Ruma Sarkar and Himashree Roy;

4x400m relay: Nirmala, Poovamma, Jisna Mathew, Vijayakumari GK, Sarita Ben Gayakwad and Debashree Mazumdar.