200m runner Archana gets late invite for Worlds

New Delhi, September 20

Archana Suseendran, gold medallist in the 200m event of the National Inter-State Championships, has been cleared to participate in the World Championships starting in Doha next week after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) accepted a late invite from the world body, IAAF. 

After a review of the final entries, IAAF found that some of the qualified athletes would not be able to take part in the September 27-October 6 showpiece event and sent out late invites. The deadline for the submission of final entries was September 16 but the IAAF opened a small window after a maximum target of the entries was not reached. In fact, the IAAF sent invites to three Indian athletes, all in the women’s 200m event. The three included Hima Das, who was ruled out of the championships due to her back injury. The third invite was extended to S Dhanalakshmi but the AFI did not accept her name. The AFI had initially thought that Archana would get invite along with 100m runner Dutee Chand, who did not cross the qualifying mark but nevertheless made the cut as the IAAF need to have the target entry number in each event. 

The inclusion of Tamil Nadu athlete Archana will take the number of Indians in the World Championships to 27. — PTI