New men's 800m National record holder Jinson Johnson may land gold medal for the country if he repeats his personal best in the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia.
Johnson broke Sriram Singh's 42-year-old record with a time of 1:45. 65 to win the National inter-state athletics championship here. He can also do well in 1500m.
Jinson's close friend and competitor Manjit Singh (1:46.24), who came second in 800m, also looks set to go for a medal.
Dutee Chand bettered her own National mark by clocking 11.29 in the women's 100m semifinals and will be a strong contender for a medal.
A comparison with a list of this year's best athletes made on June 22 shows that Johnson and Dutee have returned best timings in the continent.
In men's 400m, Muhammed Anas could not compete in the semifinals due to fever, but his National record (45.31) will hold him in good stead for a podium finish. Arokia Rajiv (45.78) too has an outside chance.
Even though Dharun A. (49.68) returned a lower timing than his showing in March, he will remain hopeful in the 400m hurdles.
Arpinder Singh is the third man from Asia to cross 17m in triple jump this year and should stay among the medal prospects.
Shivpal Singh's 82.28m earns him the third best mark and will project him as a podium finisher along with star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who is expected to claim the gold.
New women's 400m sensation, Hima Das and Nirmala Sheoran, who timed 51.13 and 51.25 to take the top two slots here, will look to ensure medals in the quadrennial event.
The best timing, 49.84, for the one-lap race was recorded by Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser last month.
Based on the inter-State meet performance, India can hope to gain through Chitra P.U., who returned 4:11.55 in women's 1500m, which happens to be the best in 2018 in the continent.
Seasoned Sudha Singh has improved her performance since the Federation Cup in Patiala in March with 9:39.50 to stay behind Winfred Yavi (9:16.38) of Bahrain in women's 3000m steeplechase.
Jauna Murmu, who showed good signs of improvement and took the 400m hurdles by timing 57.02, has registered the third best time after Aminat Yusuf Odeyemi (55.54) and Kemi Adekoya (56.83) of Bahrain and has raised hopes of a medal.
Purnima Hembram's effort of 5898 is at the peak in the continent so far.
Of course, one cannot ignore the name of Seema Punia, the defending champion in women's discus, who got permission to skip the inter-state meet like Chopra.
Nevertheless, previous instances show that Indian athletes have not been able to repeat their performances done in various meets in mega events.
