The four-day event from September 25th to 28th is being organised by Odisha Government’s Sports & Youth Services Department.
According to sources, while qualifying rounds will be held between 7 am to 10 AM every day, medal events will take place from 6 PM to 10 PM in the evening.
A 15-member team including international athletes Purnima Hembram, Jauna Murmu, Amiya Mallick and Parbati Sethi are representing Odisha in the event.
Indian athletes including Asian games gold medalist in triple jump Amrinder Singh, P Chitra and Leena Pramukh who won medals at the recently held Asian Games 2018 are also taking part in the event.
However, notable athletes like javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and sprinters Hima Das and Dutee Chand will not be participating in the meet.
In good news for Odisha sports lovers, Amiya Mallick made it to the semifinals of the men's 100 meters sprint event today.
AFI secretary, CK Valson informed that "Athletes with outstanding performance at this championship will be selected for the training camp for the Asian Championship to be held in Doha in the month of April next year and for the World Championship scheduled in October 2019."
The name of the woman athlete from Assam was announced by the world organisation in a tweet on Wednesday eveing coinciding with the Children's Day celebrated on November 14 commemorating the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's birthday.
"I'm honoured to be chosen as Unicef India's Youth Ambassador, and I hope I will be able to inspire more children to follow their dreams," Das responded.
Hailing from Nagaon district, Das clinched a gold medal in Women's 4x400 metre relay event at the 2018 Asian Games. She also won a silver in the Women's 400m Race event.
This year's award ceremony was postponed to September 25 from the usual August 29 National Sports Day event due to the clash of dates with the Asian Games in Indonesia.
The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award is given for a 'spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of four years'. Both Kohli and Chanu received a medal, a citation and a cash prize of Rs 7 lakh.
Besides the Khel Ratna, star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, sprinter Hima Das, table tennis star Manika Batra were among the 20 recipients of the prestigious Arjuna award.
The other Arjuna awardees were long distance runner Jinson Johnson, shuttler N.Sikki Reddy, boxer Satish Kumar, woman cricketer Smriti Mandhana, golfer Shubhankar Sharma, hockey stars Manpreet Singh and Savita Punia, Col. Ravi Rathore (Polo), shooters Rahi Sarnobat, Ankur Mittal, Shreyasi Singh, paddler G. Sathiyan, tennis player Rohan Bopanna, wrester Sumit, Pooja Kadian (Wushu).
Para athlete Ankur Dhama and para shuttler Manoj Sarkar were also conferred with the Arjuna award, that included statuettes, certificates and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.
The President also gave away the Dronacharya awards to C.A. Kuttappa (Boxing), Vijay Sharma (Weightlifting), A. Srinivasa Rao (Table Tennis), Sukhdev Singh Pannu (Athletics).
Among the Dronacharya awardees for lifetime achievement were Clarence Lobo (Hockey), Tarak Sinha (Cricket), Jiwan Kumar Sharma (Judo) and V.R. Beedu (Athletics). The Dronacharya awardees were also given statuettes, certificates and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.
The Dhyan Chand award, that also includes statuettes, certificates and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each were given to Satyadev Prasad (Archery), Bharat Kumar Chetri (Hockey), Bobby Aloysius (Athletics) and Chougale Dadu Dattatray (Wrestling).
"Just a few days ago, in the Junior Under-20 World Athletics Championship in Finland, India's brave daughter and a farmer's daughter Hima Das made history by winning the gold medal in the 400 m race event," Modi said during the 46th episode of the show.
"Bhyan, another daughter of the country, has brought glory to the nation. Ekta, we all are proud of you. Ekta has won the gold and bronze medals in World Para Athletics Grand Prix 2018 held in Tunisia. Her achievement is all the more special because she has made the imposing challenges in her life the key to her success," he added.
Bhyan in 2003 met with an accident after which half of her lower body became paralyzed.
"But this daughter did not lose courage and made herself all the more stronger to perform this grand feat," Modi said.
He also lauded para-athletes Yogesh Kathuniya and Sundar Singh Gurjar.
Kathuniya won the gold medal in discus throw in Para Athletics Grand Prix in Berlin and in the process bettered the world record.
Gurjar also won the gold medal in the javelin.
"I salute Ekta Bhyanji, Yogesh Qathuniaji and Sundar Singh Ji, all of you for your fortitude and passion and congratulate you! May you go further than these successes, keep on playing and keep on blooming," Modi said.
Reacting to a news article wherein Akshay has said he would like to make a biopic on "young achiever" Das, Adil tweeted: "That's a good news.. But I hope that an Assamese actor is cast to play the role... Or may be Hima Das herself should play the part!?"
A Twitter user was not pleased with the idea of a biopic on Das.
"Adil, please save her. She is precious. Tell your friends (Akshay) to stay away. This is not a good idea. Do what you like in 2030. August she has Jakarta, 2020 she has Tokyo. And do not forget in 2030 she will be just 30. Mary Kom was done after she got 5 medals.
"She is running her first senior international event and you all are disturbing her with talks of films and casting. A biopic can wait. Do it in 2030. If she fails and you dump the biopic, do you have any idea what damage it will have. This is track and field, not takes and retakes of Bollywood and a microsecond counts."
On his part, Adil said: "I don't know Akshay Kumar. Never met him. It would be appreciated if she is left alone to do her practice. But I guess no one can stop anyone from making a movie hence I suggested an Assamese Actor to play her role."
The MC Mary Kom biopic, directed by Omung Kumar, saw Priyanka Chopra play the boxer on the big screen.
The 37-year-old Punia, who had won a silver in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and a bronze in the 2018 Asian Games, breached the Olympic qualifying mark of 63.50m.
She became the 12th individual Indian athlete to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
Punia had reached Patiala from Minsk, where she had taken part in Belarus Open Championship last week, in the wee hours on Sunday.
She went past the 60m mark on four of her five legal throws and found the power to breach the Olympic qualifying mark in her fourth try.
She will be taking part in her fourth Olympics after the 2004, 2012 and 2016 editions of the Games.
Without a world ranking since she was nursing a glutes (muscles of buttocks) injury, Punia was taking part in only her third competition since the 2018 Asian Games.
She threw 62.64m in the Federation Cup here in March and after managing 58.62 in Minsk on June 25, she secured her ticket to Tokyo Games with her first throws of over 63m since August 2004 in Kiev.
"I know I can throw farther with my training but I was wary of aggravating the issue with my glutes muscles. I have worked hard over the last two and half years since the Asian Games and am happy that I could secure qualification today," Punia said.
"I will consult the Athletics Federation of India and draw up my training programme for the Olympic Games," she added.
Punia will be the second Indian woman to take part in the event in the Tokyo Olympics after national record holder Kamalpreet Kaur, who threw the iron disc to a distance of 66.59m in the Indian Grand Prix 4 on Monday last.
Kaur did not start in the event on Tuesday, though her name was there initially.
Star sprinter Hima Das, who sustained a hamstring injury on Saturday while running 100m heats is set to miss the Tokyo Olympics as the women's 4x100m of which she was a part earlier clocked 44.15 seconds, well outside the targeted time of 43.03 seconds.
Hima also tried to compete in the women's 200m final, chasing 22.80 seconds to qualify for Olympics, but finished fifth in 25.03 seconds. PD Anjali (Kerala) and Lovepreet Singh (Punjab) were the winners of the women's and men's 200m sprints in 24.01 seconds and 21.04 seconds respectively.
Besides the 4x400m mixed relay squad, Avinash Sable (men's 3000m Steeplechase), Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (men's shot put), Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh (men's javelin throw), M Sreeshankar (men's long jump), Kamalpreet Kaur (women's discus Throw) and 20km race walkers KT Irfan, Sandeep Kumar and Rahul Rohila (men) and Bhawna Jat and Priyanka Goswami (women) have already qualified for the Olympics.
There is expectation that some others like MP Jabir (men's 400m hurdles), Dutee Chand (women's 100m and 200m), Annu Rani (women's javelin throw) will make it to Olympics on the basis of their world ranking.
Moreover, the men's and women's relay teams, currently ranked 13th and 16th on the Road to Tokyo list, may raise the size of the Indian athletics team.
Tuesday midnight is the deadline of the Olympics qualification period and the World Athletics will publish the list of qualified athletes for the Tokyo Games on Thursday.
The AFI's selection committee will meet on Saturday to pick the Indian team for the Olympics.
With World Athletics responding positively to the Athletics Federation of India request to consider the 3:01.89 clocked in the 4x400m heats on Friday, the men's team's 13th place was restored ahead of Germany, Poland and Czech Republic.
Running with a changed combination after Hima Das pulled out, the Indian women's 4x100m relay quartet of AK Daneshwari, Archana Suseendran, S Dhanalakshmi and Dutee Chand a time of 44.15 seconds which was a meet record but well short of its target (43.03 seconds) that could have earned the team a berth in the Olympic Games.
The 18-year-old Das, a pre-tournament favourite, clocked 51.46s to win the gold, which triggered a wild celebration at the Indian camp.This was though not her personal best as she had clocked 51.13 last month in Guwahati at the National Inter-State Championships.
No woman before Das has won a gold medal in a World Championship at any level, be it youth, junior or senior. She is also the first Indian -- men or women -- to have won a gold in a track event at the world level.
Running in lane number 4, Das was behind Romania's Andrea Miklos at the final bend but produced a stunning burst during the final stretch to cross the finishing line well ahead of the field. She produced her trademark burst at the final 50m. Miklos took the silver in 52.07 while Taylor Manson of USA was third in 52.28.
"I am very happy to win the gold in the World Junior Championships. I want to thank all the Indians back home and also those, who were here cheering me. It was very encouraging to have this kind of support," she said after the race.
Das, from Dhing village in Assam's Nagaon district, now joins the illustrious company of star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who won a gold in Poland in the last edition in 2016 in a world record effort.
In fact, Das is the first Indian track athlete to have won a medal in the history of this competition. The other medal winners are -- Seema Punia (bronze in the discus in 2002) and Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (bronze in the discus in 2014).
Das was the favourite to win gold as she is the U-20 season leader in this quarter-mile event.
Her rise has been nothing less than meteoric as she took up serious running only last year.
Das had earlier clocked an Indian U-20 record of 51.32 seconds to finish sixth in the Commonwealth Games 400m final in Gold Coast in April. Since then, she has gone onto improving her timings.
She lowered the Indian U-20 record in 400m to 51.13 seconds while winning gold in the recent National Inter-State Championships in Guwahati.
Congratulating Das, Athletics Federation of India President Adille Sumariwalla said, "Very proud of Hima for creating history.
"It is one of the proudest moments of my life and for Indian athletics. Congratulations to Hima and her coaches, the government and SAI for their support to AFI," Sumariwalla said.
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also congratulated the Das. 'Congratulations to the sprinting sensation Hima Das for an incredible performance. Winning the first ever track gold in a world championship, she has made India proud and given us another reason to keep our heads held high,' Pradhan tweeted.
Congratulations to the sprinting sensation #HimaDas for an incredible performance. Winning the first ever track gold in a world championship, she has made India proud and given us another reason to keep our heads held high. #IAAFTampere2018 pic.twitter.com/yPuCx97StX
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) July 13, 2018
Graded as 'B' category event by World Athletics, the five-day event offers some of the top athletes the chance to either breach qualifying standards for an automatic Olympic berth or garner valuable ranking points to make it to the Games.
The championship, which is being held under strict COVID-19 protocols, was earlier scheduled to be held in Bengaluru but shifted to the NIS campus here in view of the possible logistical issues as the elite athletes who are based here will not to travel to the Karnataka capital due to the pandemic.
Two Olympic-bound athletes, star javelin thrower Neeraj Singh, who is currently on a training-cum-competition tour of Europe, and 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable will not take part in the event.
Dutee missed the automatic qualification mark of 11.15 seconds by two-hundredths of a second during the Indian Grand Prix 4 here on Monday, though she broke her own national record. She will be looking to do better and book an automatic berth though she is on the verge of making it to the Tokyo Olympics on the basis of world rankings.
Hima, who has had a lower injury problem for a long time, ran her personal best of 20.88 seconds in 200m at the IGP 4 but still missed the automatic qualification mark of 20.80 seconds.
She has to breach the qualifying standard if she wants to book a Tokyo ticket as her world ranking may not be good enough for an Olympic berth.
Hima is also a part of the 4x100m relay quartet along with Dutee, Archana Suseendran and S Dhanalakshmi, who are looking to book a Tokyo Games berth.
They broke the national record during the IGP-4 but their timing of 43.37 seconds was not enough to place them in the top 16 in the Road to Tokyo list.
To do that, they have to run at least below 43.05 seconds -- the timing of the 16th place team in the list -- and wait till the deadline of June 29. The Indians are currently in 20th spot.
Similarly, the men's 4x400m relay squad of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv and Noah Nirmal Tom will aim to improve its time from 3:02.61s clocked during the IGP-4 to 3:02.56s or even better it to lift itself from the present ranking of 16 to be sure of a Tokyo ticket.
For relay events, the top 16 teams in the Road to Tokyo rankings on June 29 midnight will run in the Olympics. Teams from Sri Lanka and Maldives are also taking part in the men's 4x400m and women's 4x100m relay events to give it an international status and meet a stipulated rule for Olympic qualifications.
Other Sri Lankans are also lining up in individual events in their last bid to earn themselves a place in the Tokyo Games. Nadeesha Ramanayake (women's 400m) and Nimali Waliwarsha (women's 800m) are among the prominent names from the island nation.
Shivpal Singh (men's javelin throw), Kamalpreet Kaur (women's discus throw), men's shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and long jumper M Sreeshankar have booked Olympic quotas by breaching qualifying standards and they will use the event to fine-tune their skills.
Men's high jumper Tejaswin Shankar will be another athlete who would be trying to breach the Olympic qualifying mark of 2.33m. He had won a gold at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships in USA on May 16 with a jump of 2.28m.
The Delhi athlete, who is currently studying at Kansas State University, has flown down from the US to take part in the championship. He has a slim chance of making it to Olympics on the basis of world rankings.
As many as six finals are scheduled for the opening day on Friday. Pole vault and 10000m race are the two events for men while the women will compete in the 5000m, 100m hurdles, triple jump and hammer throw for medals.
Given the COVID-19 situation and to reduce the crowding of athletes, the championship is being held in two locations, including the Punjabi University grounds here.
Besides the 4x400m mixed relay team, as many as 11 Indian athletes have already qualified for Tokyo Olympics in individual events.
The 22-year-old Dhanalakshmi of Tamil Nadu took the gold by clocking 11.39 seconds ahead of Dutee (11.58) of Odisha to become the fastest woman of the championships on the second day of competitions at the NIS Campus.
Another Tamil Nadu runner Archana Suseendran was third in 11.76.
This was after Hima, who was running in the shorter sprint races of 100m and 200m instead of her per event 400m, was disqualified after a false start.
The much-anticipated final did not live up to the expectations as Hima was shown the red card, while Dutee and Dhanalakshmi did not come anywhere near the Olympic qualification mark of 11.15 seconds.
Dhanalakshmi had qualified for the finals as the fastest runner with a time of 11.38 in the preliminary round on Monday and she did not make any improvement in her timing on Tuesday. The same was in case of Dutee, who had run 11.51 on Monday.
Gurindervir Singh of Punjab won the men's 100m final in 10.32 seconds, while Elakkiyadasan Kannada of Tamil Nadu (10.43) and Maharashtra's Satish Krishnakumar (10.56) were second and third respectively.
National record holder Amiya Kumar Mallick of Odisha finished seventh with a time of 10.75.
Gurindervir had clocked a personal best 10.30 seconds in the semifinals on Monday in a third fastest time by an Indian sprinter.
The Olympics qualification time in men's 100m is 10.05 seconds.
Veteran M R Poovamma, representing Karnataka, took the gold in women's 400m, winning the final race in 53.57 seconds. Tamil Nadu's Subha Venkatesan (54.48) and Kiran Pahal of Haryana took the silver and bronze respectively.
World junior champion Hima clocked 23.65 seconds on her way to the 200m gold. She has a personal best of 23.10 seconds, which she clocked last year.
V.K. Vismaya, another Indian in the fray, finished third with a personal best time of 23.75 seconds.
Muhammed Anas, the 400 metre national record holder, finished third in the men's 200m race with a timing of 20.75 seconds. K.S. Jeevan clinched the men's 400m bronze in 47.25 seconds.
Meanwhile, Toor won the men's shot put bronze with a best effort of 19.62 metre.
Hima clocked a much improved time of 23.43 seconds to win the gold. She has a personal best of 23.10 sec in 200m. This was her third international gold inside two weeks.
In her first competitive 200m race of the year, the Assam runner had clocked 23.65 seconds on her way to gold in the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland on July 2. After that, she won her second 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland on Sunday with a time of 23.97 seconds.
At Kladno, the Indian trio of Vipin Kasana, Abhishek Singh and Davinder Singh Kang took the top three spots in men's javelin final with efforts of 82.51m, 77.32m and 76.58m respectively.
In men's shot put event, national record holder Tejinder Pal Singh Toor managed a creditable best throw of 20.36m to win the bronze. He holds the national record of 20.75m.
In the women's 400m race, VK Vismaya clocked her personal best of 52.54 seconds to win the 'A' race. Saritaben was third with 53.37.
Meanwhile, in the XXII International Memorial Competition in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Indians also bagged 6 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze, with national record holder M Sreeshankar winning the long jump event with a creditable 7.97m.
The other gold winners are: Archana in 100m (11.74 sec), Harsh Kumar in 400m (46.76 sec), Lili Das in 1500m (4:19.05), Sahil Silwal in javelin throw (78.50m), women's 4x100 relay (45.81 sec).
On Wednesday, Hima clocked 23.25 seconds to clinch gold. Her compatriot V.K. Vismaya won the silver medal with a season best 23.43.
In the men's event also national record holder Muhammad Anas clinched the gold medal in 45.40 seconds in 400m race. Anas, on July 13, had won gold in the men's 400m race as he clocked 45.21 seconds to bag the top honours at Kladno.
This was Hima's fourth gold since July 2 when she ran her first competitive race in Europe.
"Won another gold today in 200m and improved my timings to 23.25s at Tabor GP," the sprinter from Assam tweeted after her victory.
In her first competitive 200m race of the year on July 2, Hima had clocked 23.65s to win gold at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix, also in Poland.
Then on July 8, she won her second 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland. Braving a sore back, the Assam runner had clocked 23.97 seconds to win the gold while Kerala runner V.K. Vismaya had grabbed silver with a timing of 24.06 seconds.
On July 13, she won her third 200m gold at the Kladno Athletics Meet in Czech Republic with a time of 23.43 seconds.
The ace Indian sprinter won the gold after she clocked a season-best time of 52.09 seconds in her pet competition at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand Prix on Saturday. Her personal best is 50.79 seconds, which she recorded at the Asian Games in 2018.
"Finished 400m today on the top here in Czech Republic," she tweeted after the race.
The Assam sprinter, however, failed to qualify for the World Athletics Championships as the 400-metre qualification mark for the world event has been kept as 51.80 seconds.
On Wednesday, Das had won the gold medal in the 200m race at the Tabor Athletics Meet.
In her first competitive 200m race of the year on July 2, Hima had clocked 23.65s to win gold at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix, also in Poland.
Then on July 8, she won her second 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland. Braving a sore back, the Assam runner had clocked 23.97 seconds to win the gold while Kerala runner V.K. Vismaya had grabbed silver with a timing of 24.06 seconds.
On July 13, she won her third 200m gold at the Kladno Athletics Meet in Czech Republic with a time of 23.43 seconds.
On Sunday, Modi took to Twitter to congratulate Hima and said: "India is very proud of Hima Das' phenomenal achievements over the last few days. Everyone is absolutely delighted that she has brought home five medals in various tournaments. Congratulations to her and best wishes for her future endeavours."
To this, Hima responded: "Thank you Narendra Modi sir for your kind wishes. I will continue to work hard and bring more medals for our country."
Earlier, President Ram Nath Kovind, legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and various other politicians and personalities showered praise on the 19-year-old after she won her fifth gold medal inside three weeks in Europe.
The "Dhing Express" had revealed she got a congratulatory call from Tendulkar on Sunday evening. "Today evening was like a dream come true for me, have got a call from the god of cricket and my inspiration Sachin Tendulkar sir. Thank you sir for your good wishes and inspirational words. I will leave no stone unturned for my mission."
Hima's fifth gold of the month came on July 20 in Czech Republic where she clocked a season-best time of 52.09 seconds to win the gold in 400m at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand Prix.
On July 17, she won her fourth gold in 200m at the Tabor Athletics Meet. Before that on July 13, she won her third 200m gold at the Kladno Athletics Meet in Czech Republic with a time of 23.43 seconds.
On July 8, she won her second 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland. And in her first competitive 200m race of the year on July 2, Hima clocked 23.65 seconds to win gold at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland.
"Hima Das, a Golden shower for India. Congratulations and Blessings. -Sg (sic.)," tweeted Sadhguru.
But the use of "golden shower" did not go down well with Twitter users as they trolled him heavily.
The term 'golden shower' is often used as a slang for an act of urinating on someone during a sexual encounter.
Hima's latest gold came last Saturday in Prague where she clocked a season-best time of 52.09 seconds to win the gold in 400m at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand Prix. Her personal best is 50.79 seconds, which she recorded at the 2018 Asian Games.
The Assam sprinter, however, failed to qualify for the World Athletics Championships as the 400m qualification mark for the world event has been kept as 51.80 seconds.
Earlier, Hima had won the gold in 200m at the Tabor Athletics Meet. In her first competitive 200m race of the year on July 2, Hima had clocked 23.65 seconds to win gold at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland.
Then on July 8, she won her second 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland. Braving a sore back, the Assam runner had clocked 23.97 seconds to win the gold while Kerala runner V.K. Vismaya had grabbed silver with a timing of 24.06 seconds.
On July 13, she won her third 200m gold at the Kladno Athletics Meet in Czech Republic with a time of 23.43 seconds.
In a video making rounds on social media, Hima is seen preparing an Assamese-style dal inside her hotel room in Europe .
The Assam sprinter said that "people went crazy after eating the dal", the aroma of which had filled her room on Sunday.
The 19-year-old said she and another Indian athlete Saritaben Gayakwad went to the market on Saturday and bought the sauce-pan and all the things required for preparing the dish. She used an induction cooktop.
Away from home, it gave her a different feeling all together. She ended the video with "Mon jai" (which in Assamese roughly means 'I feel like'.
Hima's latest gold came on July 20 in Prague where she clocked a season-best time of 52.09 seconds to win the gold in 400m at the Nove Mesto nad Metuji Grand Prix.
Earlier on July 17 , Hima had won the gold in 200m at the Tabor Athletics Meet. In her first competitive 200m race of the year on July 2, Hima had clocked 23.65 seconds to win gold at the Poznan Athletics Grand Prix in Poland.
Then on July 8, she won her second 200m gold at the Kutno Athletics Meet in Poland. Braving a sore back, the Assam runner had clocked 23.97 seconds to win the gold while Kerala runner V.K. Vismaya had grabbed silver with a timing of 24.06 seconds.
On July 13, she won her third 200m gold at the Kladno Athletics Meet in Czech Republic with a time of 23.43 seconds.
With less than a year to go for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the squad will carry the hopes of the track and field fans of the country.
The AFI believes that the 4x400m relay teams will all perform better than they did in the World Relays in Yokohama in May last. "We have invested a lot of time in the 400m runners, getting them to train under renowned coach Galina Bukharina. "We believe that the squad has been well prepared to deliver the best results on the World stage," AFI President Adille J. Sumariwalla said on Monday.
Metric miler Jinson Johnson, who is now training with Coach Scott Simmons in Colarado Springs, US, has caught the eye with his consistency. In the recent months, he improved his own National record in the 1500m twice, first with a time of 3:37.62 mins in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, on June 15 and then 3:35.24 mins in Berlin on September 1 to make the grade.
Long jumper M. Sreeshankar, among the first Indians to attain the IAAF qualifying standard with a leap of 8.20m in the National Open Championships in Bhubaneswar in September last year, has regained form after a heel injury kept him away from the Asian Championships in Doha in April. He recently found the 8.00m mark again and will gain from competing in the big stage.
While 400m runner Arokia Rajiv is unavailable due to injury, the selectors decided to discuss the case of javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra who is undergoing rehabilitation programme after an elbow surgery at a later stage. Selection committee also approved the names of sprinters Dutee Chand (100m Women), ArchanaSuseentran (200m Women) and high jumper Tejaswin Shankar subject to invitation from IAAF based on their world rankings. The committee also decided to conduct confirmatory trial for quarter miler Anjali Devi for selection in the team in individual women's 400m. The trial will be conducted on 21st September 2019 at NS-NIS Patiala.
The AFI selection committee meeting, chaired by Olympian Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, was attended by AFI President AdilleJ Sumariwalla, Chief Coach Bahadur Singh, Bahadur Singh Saggu, Krishna Poonia, Praveen Jolly, UdayPrabhu, Paramjit Singh. Former Chief Coach JS Saini and Deputy Chief Coach Radhakrishnan Nair were special invitees.
The team:
Men: Jabir MP (400m Hurdles), Jinson Johnson (1500m), Avinash Sable (3000m Steeplechase), KT Irfan and Devender Singh (20km Race Walk), Gopi T (Marathon),Sreeshankar M (Long Jump), Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (Shot Put), Shivpal Singh (Javelin Throw), Muhammed Anas, Nirmal Noah Tom, Alex Antony, Amoj Jacob, KS Jeevan, Dharun Ayyasamy and Harsh Kumar (4x400m Men's & MixedRelay).
Women: PU Chitra (1500m), Annu Rani (Javelin Throw), Hima Das, Vismaya VK, Poovamma MR, Jisna Mathew, Revathi V, SubhaVenkatsan, Vithya R (4x400m Women & Mixed Relay).
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had on September 9 named seven women, including Hima, for the 4x400m relay and 4x400m mixed relay races. But it is learnt that Hima's name was missing in the initial entry of Indian women athletes for the two relay races submitted by AFI to the IAAF for the September 27 to October 6 showpiece event in Doha.
Jisna Mathew, MR Poovamma, Revathi Veeramani, Subha Venkatesan, V K Vismaya and Ramraj Vithya have been entered for the women's 4x400m relay, while Hima's name is missing.
The 19-year-old Assamese runner was also not entered for the mixed 4x400m relay race. Jisna, Poovamma and Vismaya were named along with Jacob Amoj, Muhammed Anas and Noah Tom Nirmal.
The AFI has time till September 16 midnight to include Hima in the two relay teams in place of another runner but not after that. The IAAF allows only six names to be entered for the relay races but the AFI had named seven women.
The non-inclusion of Hima in the initial list has put a question mark on her participation as she has been suffering from a lower back pain after the Asian Games last year.
She pulled out of the individual 400m heats during the Asian Championships in Doha in April midway through the race.
At that time, deputy chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair had said that the injury was a lower back spasm (at L4 and L5, two lowest vertebrae in the lumbar spine).
Even during her ongoing training stint in Europe, as part of preparations for the World Championships, she has run just one 400m race as she is learnt to be in pain while running longer distances.
Between July 2 and 20, Hima won four gold medals in 200m and one yellow metal in 400m at sub-par races in Europe.
In August, she won a gold in 300m. She could not qualify for the World Championships in her pet event of 400m, with her season's best remaining at 52.09sec as compared to personal best of 50.79.
AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said he is not aware of any decision on Hima's participation in the World Championships.
"I have no information of Hima's latest condition as she is in Europe. There is a doctor with the team in Europe and if she is not fully fit she will not take part (in the World Championships).
"If she runs and pulls out midway, the (relay) team will suffer. She will have to be fit to run the race. Also, she is just 20 and it is better to preserve her for the Olympics. She is young and talented and she will peak by the time of 2024 Olympics, so we should not put undue pressure on her," he said.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Wednesday took to Twitter to provide the information and said: "Unfortunately 400m athlete Hima Das will not compete at the World Championships 2019 in Doha due to back injury."
On September 9, the AFI named seven women, including Hima, for the 4x400m relay and 4x400m mixed relay races at the World Championships to be held from September 27 to October 6 in Doha.
Sprinter Dutee Chand was later added in 100m after she received an invite from IAAF.
The ace sprinter from Assam has been suffering from a lower back pain after competing at the Asian Games last year. At the Asian Championships in Doha in Apri, she had pulled out of the individual 400m heats midway through the race.
From July to August, Hima won six gold medals in different events (4 in 200m, one in 300m and one in 400m).
"I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Honourable Chief Minister @sarbanandsonwal sir and the Honourable Finance Minister of Assam @himantabiswa sir for having offering me the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police in recognition of my achievements and motivating me and countless budding sportspersons to strive for medal winning performance.
"Today I reaffirm my commitment to push my limits and excel in the upcoming Games and bring laurel to Assam and Bharat (sic.)," said Hima in a series of tweets.
https://twitter.com/HimaDas8/status/1235926423392497664
Hima's road to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has, however, been hampered by a back injury which also led to her giving the 2019 Athletics World Championships a miss.
(IANS)
Her victory over Hima Das (Assam) in the semifinal heats lifted her to the top 10 of Indian all-time list. Archana Suseendran (Tamil Nadu) won her semifinal heats in 24.07 seconds to raise expectations of an interesting final.
It must be stated that both Hima Das (23.10) and Archana Suseendran (23.18) have faster times than the one blazed by Dhanalakshmi on Thursday.
Dhanalakshmi's time bettered PT Usha's long-standing meet record of 22.80 seconds set in Chennai in 1998.
Having run 24.05 seconds when finishing third in the Federation Cup here two years ago, Dhanalakshmi had recorded a 23.47 in the Tamil Nadu State Championships in Sivakasi on January 24, thus making it the second time she was dipping in under 23.50 seconds.
Returning to competition after a long break, Swapna Barman won the heptathlon event with a total of 5636 points, her 1.82m high jump mark making up for the 2:29.98 in the 800m.
Mareena George (Kerala) finished second, a poor shot put performance denying her a shot at beating the 2018 Asian Games champion in the gruelling seven-event challenge.
The front-running Krishan Kumar (Haryana) beat back a stiff challenge over the last 100m by Ankesh Chaudhary (Himachal Pradesh) in the men's 800m. Those trailing Krishan Kumar at the bell may have expected him to slow down but he chugged on.
Ankesh Chaudhary stepped up the pace and even held the lead for a brief while on the home straight but he could not power on.
Delhi's Chanda won the women's 800m in a personal best time of 2 minutes 2.57 seconds. It was the fastest time clocked by an Indian woman since Tintu Luka's 2:00.58 in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. It was a brave start-to-finish effort by Chanda, but she finished outside the Olympic Games qualification mark set at 1:59.50.
Lili Das (Bengal) moved up from sixth place with 150m left and timed her shift to the outside lane nicely to be able to slip past MR Poovamma (Karnataka) with only a few strides left for the finish.
It was Lili Das' personal best time too, the 2:02.98 improving on the 2:03.46 that she clocked in Guntur in July 2017. Poovamma (2:03.35) also earned her personal best.
In fact, with Rachna (Haryana), Shalu Chaudhary (Delhi) and Aishwarya Mishra (Maharashtra) also clocking their best times, the women's half-mile saw the top six runners attain new peaks respectively.
Talking of personal bests, Gracena Glistus Mery (Tamil Nadu) attained one with a 1.84m effort to win the women's high jump. The 20-year-old cleared that height on her second attempt after having needed three tries to cross the bar when it was placed at 1.81m. Her previous best of 1.79m was achieved in the University trials in Bhubaneshwar on March 8.
The last time an Indian woman jumped higher than Gracena Mery's 1.84m was back in 2017 when heptathlete Swapna Barman cleared 1.87m. The girl from Kanyakumari thus becomes the latest Indian high jumper to join the 1.80m club.