Athletics: Exciting contest on cards at the Indian Grand Prix 2 in Delhi

New Delhi.  The second-leg of Indian Grand Prix (IGP) Series 2019 will be held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday, 27 February 2019. For the athletes, the eventual goal is to match the qualifying standards for the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships to be held in Doha from 21-24 April 2019. While the IGP will likely serve as a warm up event ahead of the Federation Cup to be held in March, the high quality of the field could well spring up a few surprises. The most exciting contest is expected in the Women’s 400m event where a strong a field of competitors include Vismaya VK, who ran the anchor leg of gold medal winning 4x400m relay team at the 2018 Asian Games. The Kerala-based athlete also won the first leg of the IGP in Patiala on Saturday with the timing of 53.60s. National campers MR Poovamma, Sarita Gayakwad, Anu Raghvan and Aishwarya Mishra along with Jisna Mathew of Usha School of Athletics are the other big names in the race. In the men’s 400m, Rajiv Arokia, who tested his speed by participating in the 100m sprint in Patiala, will make a comeback to his favourite one-lap race. The other strong athletes in the 400m men’s event include Kunhu Mohammed, Jeevan KS and Jithu Baby. In the men’s Javelin Throw, Vipin Kasana who won the gold medal in IGP-1 with a throw of 77.87m will be in action once again while national record holder Dharun Ayyasamy will look to improve his timing in the men’s 400m hurdles. Sprinter Dutee Chand who holds the women’s 100m national record will participate in the women’s 200m event which also comprise upcoming 400m runner Anjali Devi of Haryana.