Indian Grand Prix: Entry thin but AFI says it's okay
CHENNAI: The wait is finally over for senior track and field athletes. The first Indian Grand Prix after pandemic begins in Patiala on Thursday. The wait had been torture and many athletes were looking forward to this event. However, the start list doesn't reveal their urge to compete. The entry list is thin, but Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had expected it because of higher entry standard. Most of the athletes in the first Indian GP are from the national camp in Patiala.
Indian athletics usually revolves around the 400m relay teams, both men's and women's, and the field athletes like the horizontal jumpers and the throwers. Going by the entry list, some of the big names in 400m are missing. The India chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair during an interview with TNIE had said World junior gold medallist in 400m women's Hima Das would be running sprints — 100m and 200m this season. Interestingly her name is missing. So is VK Vismaya's in women's 400m. Another 400m exponent Anjali Devi, who had won a gold at the National Inter-State Championships in Lucknow in 2019, has entered only in 200m.
Adille Sumariwalla, the AFI president said this was not surprising. "We did not want too many people coming from outside," he said. "That's why the entry standard was very high. This is just a warm-up and first meet they are running after a year. So the coaches have decided on the events and who will run what depending on what they are targeting to achieve. We have left it to the coaches to decide on athletes' participation."
"And this is the first GP," he added. "As the GP and other competitions progress, athletes will compete in their main events." On Hima, he did not want to comment and said the coaches would give a report on the event on Thursday evening. For Federation Cup, he expects more entries. "The athletes will not run all out and will be taking this as a warm-up competition because of such a long break. Great performances not going to happen now."
In shot put, Tejinder Pal Toor is missing. Apparently, it is understood that he is on his way back to competition after suffering an injury in the throwing hand. He began training only in January. Toor is yet to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.