BHUBANESWAR: India's chief national athletics coach Radhakrishnan Nair on Wednesday said that "with a focus on World Championships," Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and 3000m steeplechase athlete Avinash Sable have been excluded from the upcoming Asian Athletics Championships. He also confirmed here on Wednesday that Hima Das will be missing out on the Asian Games due to injury.
“India’s 2020 Tokyo Olympic javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra and steeplechase specialist Avinash Sable will be excluded from the Indian contingent to compete in the next month’s Asian Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Bangkok, Thailand as the main focus is the world championship,” said Nair.
“We are in touch with Neeraj and other athletes who are overseas. Now, Neeraj recovered from his injury and started his regular practice from this Monday onwards in Switzerland. On the other hand, promising women athlete Hima Das is suffering from a back injury so she will miss the Asian Games also.” Hima Das has shifted to 200m after the injury.
On Dutee Chand’s participation, Nair expressed that the 26-year-old national 100m record holder failed an out-of-competition test conducted by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on December 5. “Nothing has cleared now, so she cannot participate. This Inter-State championship will be under NADA surveillance,” he said.
On the opening day, medals in four events will be decided. However, the main focus will be the 400m heats in both men's and women’s categories. “We have three male runners who are capable of racing quarter-mile below 46 seconds,” said Nair before adding, “We are hopeful of having a strong men’s 4x400m relay team.”
Local favourite and fastest man in the country Amiya Kumar Mallick is confident of getting his timing better every day. “My best timing of the year was 10.32s in the 100m race. I made my preparations and if everything goes well, I am expecting to set a new national record on my home turf.”