National athletics meet starts in Panchkula today

Deepankar Sharda

Panchkula, June 26

As many as 752 athletes, including 298 women, will compete in the four-day 63rd National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships to be held at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Sector 3, from tomorrow. The event, which will also witness participation by international athletes, will be the last qualifying platform for the Indian athletes for the Paris Olympics.

The event will see participation by India’s top athletes as the window for the coming Summer Games ends on June 30. Except for Neeraj Chopra, who has been exempted by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), the meet has been marked as a compulsory event for the Indian athletes.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor, who reported to have pulled out of the meet at the eleventh hour due to an ankle injury, is most likely to feature in the event, depending upon his recovery.

Other top athletes — Tejaswin Shankar, Jesse Sandesh, Sarvesh Kushare, Eldhose Paul, Hima Das and Amlan Borgohain — will be eyeing a berth for the Paris Olympics. Kishore Jena, Avinash Sable, Parul Chaudhary, who have already breached the Olympic entry standard, will also take part in the meet.

Last chance for Jyothi

The Asian Games 2023 silver medallist Jyothi Yarraji, who missed the qualifying mark for the Paris Olympics by 0.01s on two occasions, will have a final chance to breach the entry standard of 12.77s in the women’s 100m hurdle. Last year, she set the national record at the World University Games by clocking 12.78s. “This is definitely my last chance for Paris Olympics, but not for the future. I am very positive of achieving the timing in Panchkula,” said Jyothi.

“Athletes from Sri Lanka and Maldives will also compete in Panchkula,” confirmed Adille Sumariwalla, AFI president. “The Panchkula national meet will see the cream of Indian athletics in action either to achieve automatic qualification criteria set by the World Athletics to compete at the Paris Olympics or to improve their global ranking points,” he added.

Jeswin will bounce back: AFI

When asked about a decline in the performance of Jeswin Aldrin, the AFI president backed the long jumper. “I am sure he will bounce back to repeat his past performance,” Sumariwalla added. “He (Jeswin) is young and should be able to give good results in future. The AFI is also reworking the domestic calendar from 2025. “We plan to conduct Continental Tour on the Indian soil to give more exposure to the Indian athletes. We will also have more competitions at the state level to broaden the base in the next calendar year,” said Sumariwalla, claiming that the AFI follows no-needle policy and has zero tolerance towards use of performance banned substances. He also spoke on the advantages of decentralisation of national camps post Paris Olympics. “Right now there are around 150 athletes in the camp. However, when the athletes practise at regional centres, including the National Centre of Excellence (NCOE), we expect more than 700 athletes in the regional centres across the country.”