Sreeshankar, Shankar in focus at inter-state athletics meet
Never before have so many Indian athletes gone overseas for training and competition. From the premier Diamond League meets to Continental Tour and Grand Prix events, Indian athletes have participated in droves in the last couple of months with some impressive performances.
They are now geared up for the biggest domestic meet of a busy season, the Inter-State Athletics Championships starting at the Kalinga Stadium here on Thursday. It will be the final selection trials for the Hangzhou Asian Games (Sept 23-Oct 8) while the performances of those who have qualified for the Budapest World Championships (Aug 19-27) will also be assessed.
For top high jumper Tejaswin Shankar, who will compete in decathlon, and heptathlete Swapna Burman, performance here will help seal their spot for the Asian Championships in Pattaya, Thailand (July 12-16).
The five-day meet, therefore, will see several Indian stars push themselves. Other than Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra and Commonwealth Games 3000m steeplechase silver medallist Avinash Sable, who have received exemption, the other leading athletes are here.
“The selection committee will pick the team for the Asian Games while the performances of those who have qualified for the world championships will be assessed in this competition,” chief national coach, Radhakrishnan Nair said.
“For the Asian Games, the first and second placed will be selected. In the world championships, three can qualify in one event. The selectors will also observe the performances of those who have been picked for the Asian Championships.”
One keenly awaited clash will be in long jump, between Murali Sreeshankar, 24, and Jeswin Aldrin, 21. Aldrin began the season by breaking Sreeshankar’s national record with 8.42m effort at the Indian Jumps Competition at Ballari in March, a season’s world best, which now stands at 8.50m. Sreeshankar though has been more consistent, crossing 8m at international meets regularly. He won at a meet in Greece (8.18m) and came an impressive third at the Paris Diamond League last Friday (8.09m). Aldrin needs to raise his game, not having been at his best overseas.
Another showdown will be in javelin, made popular by the achievements. Chopra had won the Doha Diamond League last month with a world leading 88.67m (Jakub Vadlejch, the Czech Tokyo silver medallist, pushed it to 88.67m in the Paavo Nurmi Games on Tuesday.)
DP Manu and Rohit Yadav are fighting to take the second place behind Chopra. Karnataka’s Manu threw 84.33m in the Indian GP in April where UP thrower Rohit came second (81.81m). The order was reversed at the Federation Cup in May -- Rohit winning with 84.30m, ahead of Manu (82.95m). Kishore Jena (81.05m), Sachin Yadav (80.27m) and Vikrant Malik, (81.82m) have also crossed 80m in the last six months.
“We are in a very good space in javelin. India might have four throwers at the worlds. Neeraj has made the cut being the Diamond League champion, and there are three more who are doing well and can book their berths,” Nair said.
In women’s 100m hurdles, Jyothi Yarraji has been excellent in the last one year and is seen as one of the most promising in Indian athletics. The national record holder has clocked sub-13s four times this season, three of them abroad. She has run in a series of international events and is primed to give a fine performance here. She is also taking part in 100m, which should boost India’s 4x100m relay squad at the Asian Games.
Parul Chaudhary broke a 13-year-old 5000m national record of Preeja Sreedharan clocking 15:10.35 at the Track Festival in USA in May. The steeplechase runner said training at the altitude of Colrado Springs -- it is also Sable’s base -- under coach Scott Simmons has been a boost.
“The season has started very well and that has given confidence for the rest of the year,” she said. “We are continuously in camps and the coach has plans on how to peak towards important meets this year, which competitions we should enter and which ones to leave.
“If you do 5000m it helps improve speed and endurance. My coach told me I have the capacity to break the record, so I made up my mind that I will take every lap as per the record timing. The goal is to win a steeplechase medal at the Asian Games. Last year, we trained for 25 days abroad, but this time we were there for almost 84 days. Avinash being there adds to the motivation. And there are Olympic and world championships medallists, all that help you to raise the level.”
Nair is looking forward to some good performances.
“We have planned well for this season,” he said. “Those who cannot give any real performance in the world championships, they will be doing the Asian Championships and Asian Games. You can call it block periodisation. There will be two or three peaks, two or three preparatory competitions and two or three specific events. We will send around 60 athletes to the Asian championships and we are hoping to better our performance at the Asian Games.”
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