Athletics
Despite World Championship qualification, sprinter Anjali Devi to appear for trials again
Despite a sensational run in the 400m at the National Inter-State Championship to qualify for Doha World Championship next month, Anjali Devi is now required to appear for a confirmatory trial before the Doha meet.
Haryana’s Anjali Devi made heads turn with a sensational run in the 400m at the National Inter-State Championship, as she clocked an appealing 51.53s to be rendered eligible for a Doha World Championship berth later next month. However, the 21-year-old is required to appear for a confirmatory trial, as confirmed by a top Athletics Federation of India (AFI) official.
The recent development comes after Anjali, along with a few other athletes in Haryana, fled the training ground in Rohtak when a National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) team had approached to collect urine samples earlier this year. Confirmatory trials are conducted only for athletes who are not part of the national camp or whose sudden plunge in form raise dubiousness over their ability to excel in the long run. Anjali fits the latter criterion, following her escape from sample tests by NADA. Anjali, before coming to Lucknow for the championship, had skipped the state trials in Haryana. Owing to her absence, the state association then sent her entry on the basis of her past performances, as confirmed by the Haryana Athletics Association’s secretary Rajkumar.
“Anjali will have to attend a confirmatory trial before the World Championships. AFI has a policy of making athletes, who are not part of the national camp or have stayed away for whatever reason, attend these trials once they qualify for an international competition... AFI has been asking Anjali to join the national camp for the past few months but she has given different reasons for not doing so. So we will have to see her performance at the confirmatory trials. Only after that will we decide on her selection for the World Championships,” AFI’s planning commission chairman Lalit Bhanot told The Indian Express.
Her rockstar gait rousing the crowd before a race is almost always on the display, the Haryana based athlete clocked the season’s best timing by any Indian on Thursday to finish a blistering seven to eight metres ahead of a silver medal holder Saritaben Gayakwad with 52.96s. Her performance at the World Championship took the AFI officials by surprise, especially at a time when she was eliminated at the Federation Cup for poor performance. Her timing of 51.53s is more than half-a-second better than the golden girl Hima Das’, who is currently competing for the World Championship event.
