Asian Games: AFI adds three names to athletics squad, 4x100m relay teams miss out

3000m steeplechaser Priti Lamba, sprinter Amlan Borgohain and quarter-miler Prachi were added to the Indian athletics team for the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou, China after the conclusion of Indian Grand Prix 5 in Chandigarh on Monday.

Amlan Borgohain, the national record holder in both men's 100m and 200m races, was added after his World University Games performance was considered by the selection committee.

Amlan failed to breach the qualifying mark of 20.61 seconds for 200m in both the Federation Cup and National Inter-State Athletics meet but he won the bronze medal with a timing of 20.50 seconds at the World Univerisity Games in Chengdu, China.

In women's 3000m steeplechase, 27-year-old Priti Lamba will join national record holder Parul Chaudhary after she breached the Asian Games qualification of time of 9 minutes 47 seconds set and clocked 9:45.13 in the tournament.

She had finished second at the National Inter-State Championships behind Parul Chaudhary with a time of 9:52.89 and improved it to 9:48.50 while finishing fourth at the Asian Championships in July.

Quarter-miler Prachi from Uttar Pradesh was approved to join the women's 4x400m relay team.

The 4x100m men's and women's relay teams missed out after failing to breach the qualification mark set for the Asian Games.

The men's Team of Harjit Singh, Amlan Blorgohain, Amiya Kumar Mallick, and B Siva Kumar clocked 39.24 while the qualifying mark of the event was 39 seconds.

In the women's category, the quartet of Nithya Gandhe, Vijaya Kumari, Srabani Nanda, and Jyothi Yarraji clocked 44.66 seconds and missed the qualifying mark of 44.50 by just 0.16 seconds.

The AFI selection panel also dropped injured men's 20km race walk national record holder Akshdeep Singh and replaced him with Vikash Singh.