New Delhi: A 31-member squad was named by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Saturday for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast, Australia.
Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who recently won the gold medal in the Federation Cup would make his debut in the Commonwealth Games. India was offered a quota of 37 athletes but the AFI, which met after the Federation Cup National Championship in Patiala from March 5-8 decided to name only 31.
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A total of 32 track and field athletes represented India in the last Commonwealth Games in 2014 where the country clinched a total of three medals (one gold, one silver and one bronze).
High jumper Tejaswin Shankar, triple jumper Arpinder Singh, veteran discus thrower Seema Punia and new national record holder in the 400m hurdles race Dharun Ayyaswamy have also been named in the squad.
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Punia, who had fetched India a silver in the last CWG, would be a part of the competition for the fourth time. Arpinder had clinched the bronze medal for India in the last edition while India’s lone gold medal winner from the Glasgow CWG-discus thrower Vikas Gowda wouldn’t be participating this time.
Four 20m race walkers-two men and two women have been named from separate races held in New Delhi last month. Also both the men’s and women’s 4×400 m relay teams are part of the squad. The men’s team has only six members while the women’s team has five.
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Chairman of the selection committee GS Randhawa told PTI, “The selection of the team was a smooth affair and all the decisions were unanimous among the members. We have chosen all those who have crossed the AFI’s qualifying standards and some more who got close to the mark.”
He further added, “We decided that we need not fill up all the quota of 37 because we cannot send the athletes who were much below the qualifying standards. There is no point sending an athlete who have a remote chance of a medal.”
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Discus thrower Navneet Kaur Dhillon and javelin thrower Vipin Kasana were selected for their performances in the Indian Grand Prix.
At the Indian Grand Prix, Dhillon crossed the 59m mark with a best throw of 59.18m. Her performance was below par at the Federation Cup where her best effort was 57.75m, which fetched her a silver behind Seema Punia.
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“The Federation Cup served as a selection trial for the CWG but we have always maintained that the performance of the athletes at the Grand Prix will also be considered for selection,” AFI secretary CK Valson said.
Kasana was included in the CWG team as he cleared 80.04m at the Indian Grand Prix, which was near to the qualification mark of 80.18m. Interestingly, he didn’t take part in the Federation Cup.
When asked as to how Kasana made it despite skipping the Federation Cup, Randhawa said, “The selection committee members were told that Kasana’s coach and the team doctor advised him rest. That was why he did not take part in the Fed Cup. Since he crossed 80m at the IGP, we considered that he can be at the top bracket in the competition.”
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Triple jumper Rakesh Babu Aryan was the third athlete to be picked on the basis of his performance in the Indian Grand Prix. Aryan finished fourth in the Federation Cup with an effort of 16.31m, which was below the qualifying mark of 16.60m.
Nonetheless, he had won the Indian Grand Prix with a jump of 16.59m.
Valson further added that Mohd. Anas and MR Poovamma have been included in the men’s and women’s 4×400m relay teams as they had agreed to join the national camp.
They were training outside the national camp, earlier.
He said, “Poovamma and Mohd. Anas have agreed to join the national camp and do training for the relays. Vijayakumari did not agree to it and so she was not selected. That was why we have selected just a five member relay team (including Hima Das who will run individual 400m race).”
The CWG athletics team-
Men: Jinson Johnson (men’s 1500m), Dharun Ayyasamy (400m, 4x400m relay), Tejaswin Shankar (high jump), Siddharth Yadav (high jump), Sreeshankar (long jump), Arpinder Singh (triple jump), Rakesh Babu (triple jump), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw), Vipin Kasana (javelin throw), Irfan Kolothum Thodi (20km race walk), Manish Singh Rawat (20km race walk), Muhammed Anas Yahiya (4x400m relay), Jeevan Karekoppa Suresh (4x400m relay), Amoj Jacob (4x400m relay), Kunhu Mohammed (4x400m relay), Jithu Baby (4x400m relay), Arokiya Rajiv (4x400m relay).
Women: Hima Das (200m & 400m, 4x400m relay), Suriya Longanathan (10000m), Nayana James (long jump), Neena Pinto (long jump), Seema Punia (discus throw), Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (discus throw), Purnima Hembram (heptahalon), Soumya Baby (20km race walk), Khushbir Kaur (20km race walk), M R Poovamma (4x400m relay), Sonia Baishya (4x400m relay), Saritaben Laxmanbhai Gayakwad (4x400m relay), Juana Murmu (4x400m relay).