Sreeshankar, Kujur, Rani to add star power in National Inter-State in absence of Chopra, Sable

Chennai, Aug 19 (PTI) Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, sprinter Animesh Kujur and javelin thrower Annu Rani are among some of the stars expected to hog the limelight at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships beginning here on Wednesday.

The five-day event at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will give the Indians a platform to make a last-minute dash for the World Championships berths. The qualification deadline for most of the events for the World Championships, to be held in Tokyo from September 13 to 21, is August 24.

The domestic showpiece will, however, miss some of the country's top athletes like two-time Olympic medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, steeplechasers Avinash Sable and Parul Chaudhary, sprint hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and multiple national record holder long distance runner Gulveer Singh.

Chopra is training and competing abroad as he prepares to defend his World Championships title. He has also qualified for the Diamond League Finals in Zurich on August 28.

Sable will miss the whole season as he has undergone ACL surgery, and the same is the case for Yarraji. Parul and Gulveer are training abroad, and they have qualified for the World Championships in women's 3000m steeplechase and men's 5000m respectively.

Coming back to action after a knee surgery, the 26-year-old Sreeshankar has been in tremendous form, winning four events on the trot with a season best of 8.13m while clinching gold in the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze level meet earlier this month.

The Kerala athlete is, however, yet to be included in the Road to Tokyo rankings of World Athletics because of the long lay-off. He will have to breach the 8.27m direct entry mark if he has to qualify for the World Championships.

Long jump national record holder Jeswin Aldrin, who has been struggling for some time, will miss the championships, apparently due to an injury.

Odisha runner Kujur holds national records in both 100m (10.18 seconds) and 200m (20.32 seconds), and also won gold in the Continental Tour event in Bhubaneswar. He has entered only in the 200m in which he has a chance to qualify for the World Championships.

He is currently in 42nd place in the Road to Tokyo list, out of 48 to compete in the World Championships.

Meanwhile, Annu Rani's form has seen a resurgence, hitting 60m marks in meets. The 32-year-old Asian Games champion and national record holder bagged the gold in the Continental Tour event in Bhubaneswar with 62.01m after claiming the title at the 8th International Wiesław Maniak Memorial meet in Szczecin, Poland with 62.59m.

She is currently in 28th spot in the Road to Tokyo list, out of 36 to compete in World Championships.

Despite the absence of Chopra, as well as Kishore Jena, the men's javelin throw will see a host of youngsters, who have already breached 80m mark, and will vie for the top honours. Among them are Sachin Yadav, Rohit Yadav, Yashvir Singh, Sahil Silwal, Vikrant Malik and Shivam Lohakare.

The men's triple jump event is expected to see tough competition between national record holder Praveen Chithravel -- who has directly qualified for the World Championships -- and Abdulla Aboobacker, while shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor will hope to rediscover his form.

The men's 100m will also see fierce competition among Gurindervir Singh, Amlan Borgahain and Manikanta Hoblidhar.

Shaili Singh will be the favourite to win gold in women's long in the absence of Ancy Sojan who has reportedly suffered an injury. In the women's 400m event, top runners Kiran Pahal and Rupal Chaudhary are missing.

The women's 800m and 5000m races have got lukewarm response as only four and three athletes have entered the events respectively.

In the women's 20km race walk event, national record holder Priyanka Goswami's name is also missing.

The tournament is the last qualifying event for the World Championships.

To participate in this competition, athletes must achieve the qualification entry standards set by Athletics Federation of India (AFI) between May 1 and August 10. The entry standards must be achieved either in one state meet and one AFI event, or two meets organized by AFI.

Athletes who fail to breach entry standards may be considered for participation by the AFI if they had participated in all the Open Indian athletics meetings and Grand Prix Meets.

The AFI can also grant direct entry to outstanding athletes who have achieved the entry standards for the World Championships or, in the opinion of the chief coach (in consultation with other coaches), have the potential to qualify for the World Championships. PTI PDS PDS AH AH