THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: This year is going to be a stacked one for Indian athletics. Apart from the Asian Games, a big multi-discipline event where they win myriad medals, there is also the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships. That being the case, a good beginning is extremely vital to settle into a good rhythm. And that’s what the first Indian Grand Prix — here on Sunday — offers. It offers all athletes an opportunity to set themselves up.
Among the standout names who will be on show is Hima Das, the national record holder in the women’s 400m. There is also bound to be extra scrutiny on the girl from Assam because of the last few years she has had. Ever since her strong showing in Jakarta at the last Asiad, she has not been herself. With injuries robbing her off a few years, she has tried to focus on the two sprints (she will be taking part in the 200m in this meet).
Staying with the 200m, her primary competition will come from Dhanalakshmi who had stunned the likes of Hima and Dutee Chand in the 100m final of the Federation Cup last year. It remains to be seen if Hima has fully recovered from the hamstring injury that ruled her out of action since the National Inter-State Athletics Championship, which also saw her miss the Tokyo Games. Hima has been training in Thiruvananthapuram for the last few months alongside other athletes and a lot of focus will be on how she performs and her fitness level after the injury lay-off.
While Hima and many other star athletes will be kick-starting their season, for the likes of long-jumper M Sreeshankar, it will be about carrying forward the momentum from two weeks ago. At the India Open Jumps competition, he managed to pip Muhammed Anees with an 8.17m effort. For the national record holder, it will be about continuing to cross the eight-meter mark again. It will serve as good preparation ahead of the World Indoors in Belgrade where the star jumper is expected to feature. “The main target is just to keep the momentum going and keep crossing the eight-meter mark,” said Sreeshankar.
While Muhammed Anas is a notable absentee from the upcoming meet, his 4x400m men’s relay teammates like Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, and Noah Nirmal Tom will all feature in the one-day event. The team had rewritten the Asian record at the Tokyo Olympics but it is a slow return to action for many. Noah is slowly finding his fitness and strength back after being down with Covid while Anas is yet to return to the track as the sprinter is suspected to be carrying a slight niggle.
“It is about slowly easing back into competition mode for most athletes. I just want to see where things are after recovering from Covid-19 recently,” said Noah. For most athletes, returning to the track is the single biggest focus with these meets lined up one after the another.