Placed comfortably at the top of the medals tally, India will be attempting hard to extend its lead as the athletic events of the 12th South Asian Games get under way at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, Sarasujai, on Tuesday.
The 37-card programme packed in four days quite surprisingly, however, will in no way a cake-walk for the home athletes. All eyes are certain to be on Sri Lanka Himasha Eashan, who is the fastest man of the region this season with a time of 10.36s. He will slug it out with teammate Mohamed Ashrafu and Maldivian Hassan Saaid, who have done well with an identical best of 10.42s.
Moving away, India will be aiming to do well through its standard-bearers in long distance running and throw events. But the last-minute withdrawal of champion shot putter Inderjeet Singh and the absence of Tintu Luka, who is preparing for the Rio Olympics, could affect the host’s chances.
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M.R. Poovamma (400m), M. Gomathy (800m), Gayathri Govindaraj (110m hurdles), Manpreet Kaur (shot put) and Annu Rani (javelin) can be expected to finish on the podium if they reproduce their form here.
Former Asian champion Mayookha Johny will have to fight it out with Sri Lankan pair of N.C.D Priyadarshani and Vidush Lakshnani in the long jump.
Other Indians who will be keenly watched are Arokya Rajeev (400m), Ajay Kumar Saroj (800m and 1500m), Suresh Kumar Patil (5000m), T. Gopi (10000m), jumpers K. Prem Kumar and Renjith Maheswari and Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw).
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The events will conclude on Friday with the marathon.