Inter-State C'ships: Except Neeraj Chopra and Avinash Sable, all top athletes to participate

All the country's top track and field athletes except for Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and Commonwealth Games silver medallist 3000 steeplechaser Avinash Sable will take part in the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar from June 15 to 19.

Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla said that Sable has also been granted exemption, along with Chopra, from the championships which will also serve as the selection trial for the upcoming Asian Games.

"Yes, except for Neeraj and Sable, all others training and competing abroad will have to take part in the National Inter-State in Bhubaneswar," Sumariwalla told PTI.

Chopra is currently based in Turkey and recovering from a muscle strain he had suffered while training. He was to take part in the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games at Hengelo in the Netherlands on June 4 but pulled out of the event due to the injury.

It is yet not known if Chopra, who made a perfect start to the season by winning the Doha Diamond League on May 5 with a throw of 88.67m, will take part in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, on June 13, though he had said he would aim to be back in action this month.

Sable is currently undergoing high altitude training in Colorado Springs in US and he competed at the Diamond League Meeting in Rabat, Morocco last month. He will train in Switzerland in August before the World Championships (August 19 to 27) in Budapest, Hungary. Both Chopra and Sable have already qualified for the World Championships.

Several top Indian athletes are currently training and competing abroad, mostly in Europe and US, including the likes of long jumpers Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin, triple jumper Praveen Chitravel, javelin thrower Annu Rani, sprinter Amlan Borgohain, 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and long distance runners Parul Chaudhary and Sanjivani Jadhav.

The AFI in a circular earlier in the year had made it mandatory for all the athletes to participate in the National Inter-State Championships to be considered for selection to the Indian team for the Asian Games.

"Due to specified reasons, AFI may exempt selected elite athletes (upon request by the athlete or the chief coach) from participation in Inter-State (championships) 2023," the AFI had said. "This will be done based on the advice of AFI experts/coaches/selection committee. Such athletes will be eligible for selection in the Indian team subject to the final decision of the AFI Selection Committee."