A 38-member Indian track and field team will undergo a 12-week training-cum-competition stint at the world class facility at Spala, Poland with most of the athletes aiming for Olympic berths in the next few months.
Out of 38 elite athletes, who have been part of the national camp at various centres in India, 15 are women while the rest are men.
The team, which will be based at Spala’s Olympics Training Center from May 9 to August 4, has 10 women from 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay and nine men’s counterparts in these three events besides four men and two women javelin throwers.
These 25 athletes will leave from here for Poland on Monday. Seven support staff members, including Yuri Ogorodinik, who returned for his second coaching stint in India last year after being sacked in 2011 in relation to a doping scandal, will be accompanying the athletes.
Thirteen race walkers (10 men and three women), who took part in the IAAF Race Walk Team Championships (May 7-8) in Rome, will directly reach Spala from the Italian capital.
“It is for the first time we are sending a big contingent of Indian athletes to train in Spala. The Spala Olympic Centre is in the top two best training facilities in Europe and one of the best in the world,” Athletics Federation of India Secretary General C K Valson said. “Spala will serve as the training base for all the three groups, with the race walkers planning to train there right upto August 4 while the 400m campers and javelin throwers will be travelling to other countries in the region to compete in Olympic qualification competitions.”
Valson said that the cost of the entire trip will be borne by the sports ministry. He said at least a dozen Indian athletes are expected to qualify for the Olympics in coming months, besides the 18 who have already made the cut. “We are yet to plan out which competitions these 38 athletes will take part. They will be taking part mostly in Europe with making Spala the base. We are hoping that at least another 6-7 athletes will qualify for the Olympics before the cut-off date,” Valson said. “This includes the women’s 4x400m relay team which is an important event for us.”
Talking about the athletes who are not going to train at Spala, including the likes of Dutee Chand, Valson said at least four international invitational meets are being line up so that they can try for Olympic qualification.