Despite India being home to three of Asia’s five fastest women quartermilers this year, the Athletics Federation of India has chosen to send just one athlete in the event for the Asian Championships which begin in Bangkok on July 12. A country can send two athletes in each event.
Aishwarya Mishra, who won her heats in 52.85s in the Federation Cup but was later disqualified in the final for lane infringement, will be the lone athlete in the women’s 400m. Priya Mohan, the Federation Cup champion, is now out with health issues and is likely to return to training after a month.
Surprisingly 16-year-old Rezoana Mallick Heena, who took the under-18 Asian title in an impressive 52.98s towards the end of April and later won the under-20 Asian crown, does not find a place in the individual 400m but has been offered a berth in the women’s and mixed 4x400m relays.
The team includes stars like long jumpers M. Sreeshankar, Jeswin Aldrin, and Shaili Singh, javelin thrower Annu Rani, Asian shot put record-holder Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Asian Games 1500m champion Jinson Johnson and decathlete Tejaswin Shankar.
With this year being packed with many majors including the World Championships and Asian Games, the AFI has decided to keep Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and Commonwealth Games 3000m steeplechase silver medallist Avinash Sable out of the Asian meet.
The team: Men: Rajesh Ramesh, Muhammed Ajmal (both 400m, 4x400m relay and 4x400m mixed relays), Krishan Kumar, Muhammed Afsal (800m), Ajay Kumar Saroj , Jinson Johnson (1500m), Gulveer Singh, Abhishek Pal (5000 & 10,000m), Mohd Nurhasan, Bal Kishan (3000m steeple chase), Yashal Palaksha, Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan (400m hurdles), Tejaswin Shankar (decathlon), Sarvesh Anil Kushare (high jump), Jeswin Aldrin, M. Sreeshankar (long jump), Praveen Chihravel, Abdulla Aboobacker (triple jump), Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Karanveer Singh (shot put), Rohit Yadav, D.P. Manu (javelin throw), Akshdeep Singh, Vikash Singh (20km race walk), Nihal Joel William, Mijo Chacko Kurian, Muhammed Anas (4x400m relay), Amoj Jacob (4x400m relay & 4x400m mixed relay).
Women: Jyothi Yarraji (200m & 100m hurdles), Aiswarya Kailash Mishra (400m, 4x400m relay & 4x400m mixed relay), Chanda, Lavika Sharma (800m), Lili Das (1500m), Ankita, Parul Chaudhary (5000m & 3000m steeple chase), Sanjivani Jadhav (10,000m), Priti (3000m steeple chase), Nithya Ramraj (100m hurdles), Pooja, Rubina Yadav (high jump), Baranica Elangovan (pole vault), Shaili Singh, Ancy Sojan (long jump), Abha Khatua, Manpreet Kaur (shot put), Annu Rani (javelin throw), Swapna Barman (heptathlon), Priyanka, Bhawna Jat (20km walk), Rezoana Mallick Heena, Jyothika Sri Dandi (4x400m relay & 4x400m mixed relay), Anjali Devi, Jisna Mathew, Subha Venkatesan (4x400m relay).