Athletics
AFI gives Jeswin Aldrin one more chance to join World Championships squad
After being omitted surprisingly from the World Athletics Championships squad, star Indian long jumper Jeswin Aldrin has now been asked to participate in a trial to make the squad for Oregon, by AFI.
Jeswin Aldrin (Source: The Scroll)
After being surprisingly omitted from the World Athletics Championships, prodigious long jump athlete Jeswin Aldrin has been given one more chance to make it to the Indian squad bound for Oregon in July by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
The AFI has issued a letter addressed to Jeswin Aldrin stating that he needs to participate in a Long Jump Selection Trial scheduled for 4th July at NS NIS Patiala and secure a result of around 8.10m to be taken into consideration by the AFI for inclusion in the athletics squad for the World Championships.
AFI's letter mentioning that Jeswin Aldrin will be given another chance to be selected for the World C'Ships squad
Jeswin Aldrin had secured the qualification mark of 8.22m already but still, he was left out of the squad by the AFI and only long jumpers Sreeshankar Murali, and Muhammed Anees was selected for the event from India to participate at the World Championships.
"Jeswin is not there. There is no oversight. He has met the qualifying standards. Have you seen his last three performances? 7.82, 7.69 and 7.51 so that is what it is. If the performance is consistently going down, the selection committee in its wisdom has thought that he shouldn't be selected. He did 8.26 metres only once and after that, his performance is consistently going down. There is absolutely no mistake there," AFI president Adille Sumariwalla had relayed to the media in a virtual conference after announcing the list on Thursday.
Apparently, the AFI was also informed that Jeswin was battling an ankle niggle by JSW (the company that manages Jeswin) although there was no such direct conversation between the athlete and the AFI, which further provoked Jeswin's exclusion from the current World Championships squad, for which he had already qualified earlier.
However, the AFI in a new and welcome decision has now decided to give Jeswin another chance to make the squad by delivering a performance of around 8.10m at the NS NIS Patiala on 4th July.
Jeswin, having been dropped from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games squad as well, had his hopes pinned on the World Athletics Championships in Oregon and this bit of news should bring something positive to the rising athlete's life.
