AFI announces Indian athletics contingent for 2022 Commonwealth Games; Jeswin, Tejaswin miss out

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI), on Thursday, announced the Indian contingent for the upcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. While a lot of expected names made the cut, the omissions of long jumper Jeswin Aldrin and high jumper Tejaswin Shankar stood out.

Both Aldrin and Shankar had met the qualification standards set by AFI for the Commonwealth Games. While the latter had achieved it during the NCAA Championships in USA, the former had met it during the Indian Grand Prix earlier this year.

The AFI had also questioned Shankar's participation in the NCAA Championships without permission, ignoring the recently concluded National Inter State Athletics Championships in Chennai. Aldrin's exclusion, however, could be attributed to his poor returns ever since the start of his European season last month. He also had a poor outing in Chennai.

Dope tainted Kamalpreet Kaur and 400m veteran Muhammed Anas Yahiya, who has endured a torrid run this season, too have been ignored.

The contingent announced on Thursday includes a total of 35 athletes - 16 women and 19 men. Quite a few including star shot-putter Tejinder Singh have been included with some conditions about their performance in the upcoming World Athletics events.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics star Amoj Jacob has been named in the Men's 4x400m relay team, but his ticket to Birmingham remains subject to his fitness and complete recovery from injury.

The men's javelin section will see three Indians compete in Birmingham with two youngsters - DP Manu and Rohit Yadav, named to accompany Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra. Same is the case in men's triple jump.

In the women's section the breakout star from Inter State Athletics - Aishwarya Babu has been named in both Long Jump and Triple Jump, while the talented Shaili Singh and Nayana James have missed out on the former.

Indian Contingent announced by AFI

Women's

100m: Dhanalakshmi Sekhar

100m Hurdles: Jyothi Yarraji

Shot Put: Manpreet Kaur

Discus Throw: Navejeet Kaur, Seema Punia (Both subject to guidelines achieved in upcoming events)

Javelin Throw: Annu Rani, Shilpa Rai (Subject to Accreditation)

Hammer Throw: Manjubala Devi (Subject to Accreditation), Sarita Singh (Subject to guidelines achieved in upcoming events)

Long Jump: Aishwarya Babu, Ancy Sojan

Triple Jump: Aishwarya Babu

10km Race Walk: Priyanka Goswami, Bhawana Jat (Subject to Health)

4x100m Relay: Dhanalakshmi Sekhar, Dutee Chand, Hima Das, Srabani Nanda, Jilna MV, Simi NS

Men's

3000m Steeplechase: Avinash Sable

Marathon: Nitender Rawat

Shotput: Tejinder Singh Toor (Subject to guidelines achieved in upcoming events)

Javelin Throw: Neeraj Chopra, DP Manu, Rohit Yadav

Long Jump: Murali Sreeshankar, Muhammed Anees Yahiya

Triple Jump: Abdulla Aboobacker, Eldose Paul, Praveen Chitravel

10km Racewalk: Sandeep Kumar, Amit

4x400m Relay: Amoj Jacob (Subject to Fitness Level), Noah Nirmal Tom, Arokia Rajiv, Muhammed Ajmal, Naganathan Pandi, Rajesh Remesh