Athletics
Indian Grand Prix 2: Sable, Toor, Kamalpreet expected to hog the limelight
Stars such as steeplechaser Avinash Sable and throwers Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Kamalpreet Kaur will get their first major test after their show in the Tokyo Olympic Games last August.
Kamalpreet Kaur (Source: Getty Images)
Thiruvananthapuram: The road to Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 and 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games has been getting closer and hotter. The Jumps and Throws competitions and the first Indian Grand Prix have brought a clearer picture.
Couple of the Indian athletes have achieved the standards for both the Games scheduled to be held in China's Zhejiang province from September 10 to 25 September, 2022 and in England from July 28 to August 8.
As the Indian Grand Prix 2 (IGP-2) begins at Chandrashekharan Nair stadium here on Wednesday in 21 events for both men and women, top athletes except the first Indian Olympic champion in athletics Neeraj Chopra are featured here. Another notable absence is 400m national record holder Muhammed Anas who is yet to compete this season.
However, stars such as steeplechaser Avinash Sable and throwers Tajinderpal Singh Toor (men's shot put) and Kamalpreet Kaur (women's discus throw) will get their first major test after their show in the Tokyo Olympic Games last August.
Avinash set the men's 3000m steeplechase national record of 8 minutes 18.12 seconds during the heats in Tokyo in the Olympic Games heats while the 26-year-old Kamalpreet was the only woman to make it to the final of her event, finishing creditable sixth place with a best throw of 63.70m after being only one of the two competitors who breached the automatic qualification mark of 64m in the qualifying round.
Toor is reaching here after his appearance in the World Athletics Indoor Championship at Belgrade last week.
Other duels to be watched
In women's 400m, Jisna Mathew and VK Vismaya return after a long gap due to injuries and poor form. The Kerala duo who were part of relay teams that have won medals in the Asian Championships, will be eyeing to retain their places in the relay squads for both the Games.
Bengaluru girl Priya H Mohan whose 52.59 seconds run in the Inter-University Championships in Bhubaneswar in February and 52.91s here 10 days ago in the IGP 1 make the only sub-53-second woman quarter-miler in the past two seasons. The 19-year-old will look to showcase consistency and form in a high quality field.
In men's 400m hurdles, Tokyo Olympian MP Jabir, national record holder Ayyasamy Dharun and T Santhosh Kumar are expected to give keen contest
In men's triple jump, Abdulla Aboobacker, Eldhose Paul, Arpinder Singh who went past the 16m- mark in the National Open Jumps Competition here on March 1 is expected to produce fireworks.
Sprinter Dutee Chand who also competed in the world Indoors with long jump national record champion M Sreeshankar last week was expected to race here but her name is missing in the entry list.
