The cream of Indian athletics, barring Olympic Games gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, will be see in action in the 61st National Inter-State Athletics Championships at the Nehru Stadium here from Friday. As many as 610 competitors from 23 States and Union Territories and 11 athletes from Sri Lanka will take part in this five-day event.
Besides being a blue-riband competition, the Championships assumes great significance as the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has designated this meet as a selection meet for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham later this year. Thus, even athletes who were training overseas have returned to India to showcase their form in this meet.
With 78 competitors, Uttar Pradesh will field the largest contingent ahead of Haryana’s 72 and host Tamil Nadu’s 68. Kerala is the only other State or Union Territory to have more than 50 entries, exceeding that number by 2. Jharkhand will be the smallest contingent here with only one athlete making the grade.
The meet offers India’s leading athletes to embrace consistency and produce the form that helped them clock good times or make jumps and throws that have caught the eye of the fan and critic alike.
For instance, DP Manu whose 82.43m throw is the best Javelin Throw by an Indian this season, has the chance to prove that it was not a flash in the pan. Similarly, on the track, Amlan Borgohain can impress with a good 200m sprint like he did with a blistering 20.52 seconds effort in the Federation Cup in Kozhikode
On the contrary, Shot Putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor can make the most of the opportunity to get back to the 20m territory that has eluded him from the Olympic Games.
Besides these, there can be no doubt that the focus will be on the 400m sprinters, both men and women. The men, led by Noah Nirmal Tom and Arokia Rajiv as well as Muhammed Ajmal, came up with good times in a meet last week in Turkey. Among the women, the spotlight will be on Priya H Mohan.
