Tajinderpal Singh Toor ruled out of Inter-State Athletics due to ankle pain

India's top shot putter and Asian Games gold medallist Tajinderpal Singh Toor is set to miss the National Inter-State Athletics Championships due to ankle pain.

National Inter-State Athletics will be the final qualifying event for the forthcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. The four-day marquee domestic event is beginning on Thursday in Panchkula.

While Toor's absence from the Inter-State Athletics will not affect his qualification for the Paris Games due to his superior position in the Road to Paris rankings, the injury will upset his training ahead of the showpiece event.

"I am currently having slight ankle pain and my doctor told me not to throw for three weeks," Toor told PTI without specifying when he began to feel the pain.

Recently, the 29-year-old Indian athlete's Asian record of 21.77m was bettered on June 21 by Saudi Arabia's Mohamed Daouda Tolo during the Estadio Vallehermoso event in Madrid. Daouda Tolo's effort of 21.80m set a new Asian record.

Toor has been struggling with injury issues in the last few years. He had undergone surgery on the left wrist of his throwing arm just after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

He had suffered a groin injury while winning gold at the Asian Championships in July 2023 in Bangkok, forcing him to pull out of the World Championships in Budapest the following month.

Last month, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla made it clear that except for Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, it will be mandatory for all the other athletes to participate in the National Inter-State Championships (June 27-30) to get selected for the Paris Olympics.