Amlan, Jyothi among top stars in action at National Open Athletics Championships

Amlan Borgohain and Jyothi Yarraji will be among the few stars in action as most of the top athletes decided to skip the season-ending National Open Championships starting at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here from Saturday.

Sprinter Borgohain, representing Services, and 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, who is turning out for Railways here, were scorching the track by winning a golden double each during the just-concluded National Games in Gujarat.

They will again have to handle the pressure of expectation in delivering quality performances in the five-day event. They were representing Assam and Andhra Pradesh in the Gujarat National Games.

Borgohain will be competing in 100m and 200m while Yarraji has entered her name in 100m race, besides her pet event of 100m hurdles in which she holds the national record.

Top long jumpers M Sreeshankar, Jeswin Alrdrin and Muhammed Anees Yahiya and triple jumpers Eldhose Paul, Abdulla Aboobacker and Praveen Chithravel have also decided to skip the meet.

National record holder Sreeshankar injured himself while winning silver in the National Games, where Alrdrin had won gold. Sreeshankar had also won a silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August.

Both Paul and Aboobacker did not participate in the National Games after winning gold and silver respectively in the National Games. With Tokyo Olympics javelin throw gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and CWG 3000m steeplechase silver winner Avinash Sable not featuring in the entry list, it would be up to shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, now on comeback mode after an injury prevented him from taking part in the World Championships in July, to shine.

As many as 868 athletes from 31 teams, including four institutions, will vie for honours in the five-day competition. Being the only team with more than 100 athletes, Railways has the largest number of entries. With a 50-strong women's squad, the most for any team, Railways has a total of 103 entries.

Interestingly, for the first time, Services will have representation in the women's competition, with 400m runner Summy joining the Army recently.

Among the states and union territories, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are fielding the biggest contingents with 87 and 80 athletes respectively. Assam and Ladakh will have the smallest teams with two athletes each.

Four finals are scheduled for the opening day on Saturday with the men and women's 20km race walk starting the proceedings while women pole vaulters, notably Rosy Meena Paulraj who set a national record in the National Games in Gandhinagar, and discus throwers will be competing for medals.