KOCHI: From Jisna Mathew to young prodigy Ancy Sojan, the Kerala contingent is seeing the upcoming 60th national inter-state athletics championships in Patiala as an opportunity to get back into competitive mode after the Covid-19 disruptions.
Jisna, the 22-year-old, has been away from the track for an extended period of time. Plans to travel abroad for the World Relays and a few other meets with the national team failed due to travel restrictions. In that regard, the other Olympic bound athletes in the Kerala squad like Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Noah Nirmal Tom, Vismaya VK and long jumper M Sreeshankar have also not been able to travel abroad for international meets due to the covid-19 outbreak in India and the subsequent travel bans by various countries.
"It has been a challenging period for all the athletes, from the seniors to the youngsters. We have not been able to train like we usually do or participate in competitions. The inter-state championship is very significant in that regard because it helps us athletes get back into that competitive mode which has been missing for a long time. I want to use this opportunity to try and improve my timings and finally compete again," said Ancy, who will be competing in three events at the championship which is slated to be held from June 25 to 29.
A common practice for the Kerala contingent over the years has been to travel together for these national meets but the pandemic has forced athletes to make alternate arrangements.
"Generally, most of them travel together by train and it forges a nice team spirit within the group. But the Covid situation means that the athletes would be looking for alternatives. They are all expected to take flights as we can't book group tickets for trains. Even during the junior athletics championship in Guwahati, they all went by flight. The safety of the athletes has to be taken into consideration and I guess travelling by air was the only option we had. The more important thing is that they are getting to participate in a competition," said Kerala State Athletics Association secretary Babu PI.
There will be a lot of focus on long jumper Sreeshankar as well. The youngster who secured qualification for what will be his first Olympics during the Federation Cup would also look to get back into competition mode.
The national record holder had raised concerns over not being able to travel abroad for competition and the meets in Patiala (IGP-4 and inter-state championship) will be an opportunity for the Palakkad native to test himself before the quadrennial event.
Kerala squad:
Women: Anjali PD (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Ancy Sojan (100m, long jump, 4x100m), Ann Rose Tomy (100 MH), Vismaya VK (400m), Jisna Mathew (400m), Shalini VK (400 MH), PU Chithra (1500m), Angel P Devasia (HJ), Athira Surendran (TJ), Akhila AM (4x100m), Sneha K (4x400m), Ansa Babu (4x400m), Anila Venu (4x400m), Riya Mol Joy (4x400m).
Men: Midhun T (100m), Aswin KP (100m), Nevil Francis Fernandez (100m), Mohammed Fais C (100 MH), Mohammed Anas Y (400m), Noah Nirmal Tom (400m), Alex A (400m), Jabir AB (400 MH), Gokul S (Deca), Muhammed Jassem C (HJ), Aromal T (HJ), Geo Jos (HJ), Amal TP (LJ), Mohammed Anees Y (LJ), Sreeshankar M (LJ), Sidharth AK (PV), Eldhose Paul (TJ), Abdulla Aboobkar N (TJ), Karthik U (TJ), Muhammed Badusha (4x400m), Vijay Krishnan K (4x400m), Albert James Paulose (4x400m), Alif Nizam (4x400m).