Nothing much to show for at the international scene for the past few years, India will seek to re-establish themselves as a continental power in athletics when the 20th Asian Athletics Championships begins here on Wednesday.
With a record participation of 577 athletes from 43 countries out of 45 members in the Asian Athletics Association — the highest ever in the history of the Championships — India are looking to regain some of the lost ground in the five-day flagship event of the AAA, to be held at the Shiv Chhatrapati Stadium at Balewadi here.
The biggest ever gathering of Asian track though would not include london Olympics bronze medallist high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar as he pulled out of the 20th Championships due to a back strain, taking the sheen off the continental showpiece event which has already seen pull-outs by some of the top draws. “Off for a while, Out from Birmingham Dl (Diamond league) and the Asian championship, back injury,” Barshim, the 2012 london Olympics bronze medallist and current world leader, wrote on his Twitter page.
But the event will feature former 1500m world champion and Olympic medallist Mariyam Jamal of Bahrain and India’s Sudha Singh and Vikas Gowda.
India are being represented by a record 107 athletes as they have the luxury of naming three participants in each of the 42 events (21 each for men and women). The event also assumes significance as the winners will get direct entry for the World Championships to be held in Moscow in August.
Gowda (men’s discus), Sudha (women’s 3000m steeplechase), M R Poovamma (women’s 400m), Kumaravel Prem Kumar (men’s long jump), Tintu luka (women’s 800m), Renjith Maheswary (men’s triple jump) and Krishna Poonia (women’s discus) are gold medal prospects, while the likes of Mayookha Johny (women’s long jump and triple jump) and Arpinder Singh (men’s triple jump) are among other medal prospects.
Gowda is the top performer of the season among the participants with Iran’s 2012 london Olympic silver medallist Ehsan Hadadi deciding to skip the event in view of the Moscow World Championships in August. Gowda’s 65.82m effort in April is the season’s second best among Asians after Hadadi’s 66.98m.
In women’s 3000m steeplechase, Sudha is the clear favourite after her 9:45.60 effort in the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai early last month, which is a national record. In the absence of last edition winner Minori Hayakari of Japan,
Sudha’s contest for gold medal is likely to be with Ruth Chebet of Bahrain. Sudha, the reigning Asian Games gold medallist, had finished second behind Hayakari in the last Asian Championships in 2011 in Kobe, Japan
Among other Indian gold medal prospects, luka and Poonia have not been at their best and they need to give their 100 per cent if they want to win gold in their respective events.