The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Sunday announced a 37-member Indian team, including 16 women, for participation in the 19th Asian Athletics Championships to be held in Kobe, Japan, from July 7 to 10.
The AFI named a scratch combination for the women's 4x400m relay event, with the available members in the already-chosen team being listed with no reserves. With four athletes testing positive from among those who were picked for the relay, Tintu Luka, scheduled to run the 800 metres, has been roped in to run the relay also.
There could yet be some uncertainty about the relay team since a couple of dope tests of athletes already included in the team are pending. Unless the AFI had received the ‘all-clear' on Sunday, an anxious wait could be on the cards for Monday to see if any more athletes are going to be reported for ‘positive' tests. The AFI has been rather conservative in picking the squad, not naming athletes in events where India stood no chance at all. Thus, with no leading woman sprinter having returned to competition after the National Games in Ranchi last February, for inexplicable reasons, the federation has chosen not to field a women's 4x100m relay team.
The women sprint quartet had taken a bronze in the Commonwealth Games last year, but later managed only fifth place in the Asian Games. The selectors have not picked any male sprinter for the individual events. There is no entry in the men's javelin throw though Kashinath Naik was originally entered. Surprisingly, there are no entries in the men's long jump and triple jump, though Shamsher Pratap Singh and Amritpal Singh have been over 7.80m in long jump this season, and Arpinder Singh, with his 16.62 in Ranchi in February, is ranked seventh for the season in triple jump in Asia.
No foreign coach has been named in the team. The team is scheduled to leave for Kobe via Bangkok on Monday.
The team : Men : Shakeh Mortaja ( 400m, 4x400m ), Ghamanda Ram and Sajeesh Joseph ( 800m ), Pranjal Gogoi ( 1500m ), Suresh Kumar ( 5000m, 10,000m ), Kheta Ram ( 10,000m ), R. Ramachandran ( 3000m steeplechase ), Joseph Abraham and Satinder Singh ( 400m hurdles ), Om Prakash Karhana and Saurabh Vij ( shot put ), Vikas Gowda ( discus ), Shameer Mon, Krishna Kumar Rane, Ritesh Anand and Rahmatullah Molla ( 4x100m ), Davinder Singh, Jibin Sebastian, Premanand Jayakumar and Jithin Paul ( 4x400m ) and Bhartinder Singh ( decathlon ).
Women : A. C. Ashwini ( 400m, 400m hurdles, 4x400m ), Mrudula Korada ( 400m, 4x400m ), Tintu Luka ( 800m, 4x400m ), O. P. Jaisha and Jhuma Khatun ( 1500m ), Kavita Raut ( 5000m, 10,000m ), Suriya Loganathan ( 5000m ), Preeja Sreedharan ( 10,000m ), Sudha Singh and Priyanka Singh Patel ( 3000m steeplechase ), Mayookha Johny and M. A. Prajusha ( long jump, triple jump ), Krishna Poonia and Harwant Kaur ( discus ), Susmita Singha Roy ( heptathlon ) and Priyanka Pawar ( 4x400m ).
Chief Coach : Bahadur Singh; Coaches : Virendar Poonia, Shyam Kumar, Ramesh Nagpuri, Sanjay Garnaik, J. S. Bhatia, C. Thirugnanadurai, Shive Gowda and P. T. Usha.
Manager : Prahlad Sawant.
