World Athletics Championships: Neeraj Chopra and others in run to end India’s 19-year medal drought-Sports News , Firstpost

There’s a newfound enthusiasm among Indians as far as World Athletics Championships is concerned as for the first time in donkey years, we actually have a chance of winning a medal at the biennial event. The last and the only time India won a medal at Worlds was back in 2003 when nation’s long jump legend Anju Bobby George claimed historic bronze with a 6.70 metre jump in Paris.

Neeraj Chopra hot favourite to end medal drought

This time around, however, the expectations are not just of a medal but gold as javelin Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra is all set to compete at the event in Oregon (USA) and is in hot form with big throws coming early in the season. Kicking off his season in mid-June, the 25-year-old javelin star has already improved on his national record twice this season that started with a huge 89.30-metre throw at Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku (Finland) for the silver medal. Neeraj then missed the 90m-mark by a whisker at his third competition of the year in the Stockholm Diamond League to settle for the second spot with an 89.94m throw.

His recent form makes him one of the clear favourites to clinch a medal at the global event and end India’s 19-year-old drought at the Worlds. Neeraj, however, will face stiff competition from the likes of defending champion Anderson Peterson, Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch among others as prime contenders.

The event will also see young Rohit Yadav make his debut as the qualification round of the javelin throw are scheduled on Day 7 of the tournament on 22 July (5:35 AM onwards).

The women’s category of the event will also see national record holder Annu Rani in action in the qualification round on 21 July (3:50 AM onwards) as the 2019 Asian Championship silver medallist will aim to go better than her 2019 Worlds performance of fifth spot (62.43m) in the final. For the record, this was also the best performance by an Indian at the last edition of the event held in Doha.

M Sreeshankar leads long jump pack

Regarded as a long jump prodigy, Murali Sreeshankar is all set to compete in his first major event since Tokyo Olympics. The 23-year-old long jumper has come a long way since 2018 when he recorded his first freak of a national record jump of 8.20m at the season-ending Open Nationals at barely 19. Now in 2022, World No. 13 has found consistency in his performance with 8m-plus jumps recorded every now and then. Two of his big jumps this season — 8.36m (NR) and 8.31m — came less than two months ago while he maintained his strong form with an 8.23m jump last June.

While repeating such jumps will only put him in medal contention, his ability to peak at the major event still remains a concern. Over the last four years, his best at a big ticket event remains a 7.95m  that came at the 2018 Asian Games. The Indian athletics (AFI) officials have always maintained that they never rushed the young man from Palakkad as they saw him as a talent for the future but Worlds could be the first tournament where the confident jumper may break the duck by reaching the finals at the least.

It still will be a tall ask against the likes of Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou (season best 8.55m) and Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer (8.45m) to compete for glory.

The young jumper may settle down easy this time around with his father Murali expected to be among the stands as his coach at the event. He will also have two familiar faces on the grid as his compatriots Muhammed Anees Yahiya and Jeswin Aldrin will also be competing in the qualification round on the opening day (16 July). Anees, alike Sreeshankar, has found consistency in his jumps as he leaped his personal best of 8.15m thrice this year (recently in Almaty, Kazakhstan late June) and will have a point to prove as he competes in his first big-ticket event.

Aldrin, on the other hand, confirmed his Oregon ticket late as the 20-year-old jumper had to go through multiple AFI screenings to prove his worth following his wind-assisted 8.37m jump (+4.1 m/s) at the Federation cup last April. While expectations of a big jump are unlikely from him, Aldrin has certainly shown he is a talent for years to come with a non-wind assisted jump of 8.26m at the same competition. Irrespective of how the Worlds goes for him, Aldrin will only take home valuable experience from the biggest tournament on the calendar.

The India trio will be in action on Day 1 as they compete in the qualification event on 16 July from 6:30 AM IST onwards. Sreeshankar has been put in Group B, along with the Olympic champion Tentoglou and defending champion Tajay Gayle, Anees and Aldrin will compete in Group A as at least 12 spots are up for grab in the final with the direct qualification mark set at 8.15m.

Three Indians competing in triple jump as well

While no women made the cut in the lateral jumps, three more men made the cut in the triple jump as well in Abdullah Aboobacker (season best of 17.19m), Praveen Chithravel (17.18m), and Eldhose Paul (SB 16.99m). The trio, however, will have to punch above their weight if they want to challenge Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo (SB 17.49m), current world leader Jordan Diaz (17.87m), Lazaro Martinez (SB 17.64m) in hot pursuit for the gold.

Avinash Sable on ever-improving run among distance runners

300m steeplechaser Avinash Sable will be in the limelight among the long- and mid-distance runner as the 27-year-old athlete from Maharashtra has come a long way since he finished 20th at the last Worlds in Doha. Make no mistake, his Doha run was still praise-worthy given he improved on his national record twice during the course of the event, which also saw him lose his footing during the qualification round. Since then, Avinash has shaved off further 12 seconds on his national record timing, which now stands at 8:12:48 seconds.

Going plainly by the number, this timing would have been enough to make him a World Champion in 2019 but those who have followed the sport closely knows that timings are of little relevance in distance running. It’s the pace of the race and an athlete’s burst of pace in the final two laps have historically decided the result and nobody understands that better than Avinash. The multiple national record holder, who now trains under Scott Simmons in Colorado Springs, USA, has often found it difficult to outrun the likes of Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali and defending World Champions Consenslus Kipruto and will write a new chapter in Indian athletics if he finally matches the pace of the heavyweights.

Avinash will be in action in heat 3 on the opening day of the event from 5:45 AM onwards.

Apart from him, Sandeep Kumar and Priyanka Goswami are the two remaining names among distance runners. The 20km racewalkers got the ideal exposure by competing in international events earlier in the year and had enough time to recover and be prepared for the Worlds. Both Sandeep (personal best 1:20:16 seconds) and Priyanka (1:28:45s) are current national record holders but have failed to bring out their best performances in a major competition. At the Tokyo Olympics last year, Sandeep and Priyanka finished 23rd and 17th respectively while failing to improve on their best efforts.

Both of them will be in action on 16 July in the racewalk finals, scheduled from 1:40 AM IST (women’s) and 3:40 AM IST onwards.

No women quartermilers in action

The World Championship will also see no women’s 400m participation this time around with a year to go for Asian Games. The current crop of quartermilers lost its shine since Hima Das opted out of the 400m run due to regular bouts with mysterious injuries before the 2020 Olympics; forcing her to switch to the sprint (100 and 200m) categories.

An important part of AFI’s national camps, led by Olympic gold-winning coach Galina Bukharina, only Aishwarya Mishra clocked 51.18 seconds to qualify for the gala event. However, her puzzling disappearance from the camp and allegation of evading a dope test, followed by a sharp dip in trials timing, led to her being dropped from the final squad for the Worlds.

No women’s 400m participation also meant India won’t be competing in the mixed relay heats and final on the opening day; a disappointment after Indian runners scripted history by finishing seventh in the last edition in 2019.

This left India with its men’s 400m relay team making the cut for the event. 400m national record holder Muhammed Anas, race finisher Noah Nirmal Tom, with fresh faces Rajesh Ramesh, Muhammed Ajal and Naganathan Pandi being drafted into the squad. The team, however, essentially will be without its top performer Amoj Jacob, who pulled his hamstring during the Inter-States last June; dashing India’s hope to reach the final of the 16-team event.

The men’s relay heats will start on the eighth day of the event (23 July) with the final scheduled on 25 July.

Apart from the men’s relay team, hurdler MP Jabir is the only representative in 400m hurdles, competing in heats on Day 2.

Dhanalakshami Sekar: Sole sprinter in Indian squad

Among sprinters, India’s sole representation will be in Dhanalakshmi Sekar, who saw off competition from the likes of Hima Das and Dutee Chand to book her 200m berth in Oregon. World No. 66 couldn’t breach the qualifying standard of 22.80 seconds but earned an invitation through her world ranking. However, with the 24-year-old sprinter’s season best of 23.21 seconds in the category, it will be a tall ask for the Indian to reach the final, or the semi-finals, with the likes of Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, her Jamaican counterpart Shericka Jackson, who posted all-time third fastest timing of 21.55 secs, among many others competing for the glory.

Toor aims to find form

The story is no dissimilar for experience shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, whose career has been on a downward slope since his national record throw of 21.49m in 2021 summer. After a low point at the Tokyo Olympics with the best attempt of a mere 19.99m, the 27-year-old Asian Games champion’s best throw this season has been a below-par 20.34; making him just a footnote in a competition that has two-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser setting the world lead with a 23.12m throw.

Toor will be in action on Day 1 (16 July) in the qualification round from 7:25 AM onwards where he will have to find his season-best effort to breach the final qualification mark of 21.20m. He will find competition in abundance as he is clubbed in Group A with USA duo Crouser, Josh Awotunder (SB 21.74m), and New Zealand’s Tom Walsh (SB 22.31m) among others.

The World Athletics Championships Oregon22 will be live telecast across SONY TEN 2 channels in India as well as live-streamed on SonyLIV app.

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