CHENNAI: Two-time Olympic Medallist and defending world champion Neeraj Chopra will lead India's 19-member team at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo which begins from September 13.
He comes on the back of a modest performance in the Diamond League final in Zurich recently, finishing second with a throw of 85.01 metres. He breached the 90-metre-mark in Doha earlier this year and has consistently thrown around that mark this season. This performance, however, is uncharacteristic of Chopra. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla said that the star thrower will work on his timing. "He had a little timing issue which he himself has gone on the record to say. He has slightly made adjustments from what I understand on his approach and throw. Once he gets the timing right, he is going to be absolutely fine in the World Championships," he said in the press conference announcing the list of qualified athletes on Sunday.
The composition of the squad has varied across new events. Long and middle distance disciplines and sprint disciplines are some of the events India have not had significant presence. "This is attested to our gradual increase in pace and the number of events in which these athletes have participated," Sumariwalla added. He explained the reasons behind the growth of runners in this country. "For long and middle distance runners we brought in Scott Simmons, who has his training program in Colorado Springs, USA. Before his appointment, the load taken by long distance runners remained at around 100-120 kilometres a week, but since his arrival that has gone up to 280 kilometres a week. If you see Gulveer Singh run he has improved his timing. The more you run, the more you improve." Singh (both 5000m and 10,000m), two women steeplechasers — Parul Chaudhary and Ankita Dhyani and Pooja in both 1500m and 800m are the qualified distance runners. With sprinters, Sumariwalla said, "Camps and training centres established by Reliance and JSW, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha state athletic associations have brought in foreign coaches. Tejas Shirse (110m hurdles), Animesh Kujur (200m) are part of such programs," he said. Both Kujur and Shirse have qualified in their respective disciplines.
'Internal issues, will be sorted out,' Sumariwalla on no quarter milers for Worlds
The 400m discipline has been one of the strong areas for India. However, no Indian quarter-miler has made the cut to the Tokyo meet. Recently at the National inter-state meet here, India's 400m coach from Jamaica Jason Dawson had said that the interference by the Indian coach into his program has not helped his cause. "One of the biggest problem I have since I came to India is the interference of other Indian coaches telling the athletes what to do not to do and why they should not do," This is in context to the 4x400m relay team not matching the demands of Dawson, prompting the AFI to change the team. Sumariwalla gave his account on the situation of the quarter-milers. "The athletes could not take the load. To run 400m, you have to run seven times, which includes the heats, semifinals and finals. Our athletes were all one-race athletes. When foreign coaches try to make them two or three-race athletes, they could not take the load. Here, the Indian coaches were trying to save them but save them for what? So, we have made some structural changes and you will see the results. I can assure you, you would not believe it," he said. With increased workload in this discipline, National record holder Vishal TK has managed to cut his timing down and shatter the national record. "He has run 16 races (this season) and every race he has improved," he said. The relay teams will not be in Tokyo this time. In the previous edition in 2023, they were part of India's 28-member contingent in Budapest. "We have some internal issues which we are resolving. I can assure you, all the three relay teams will go on to break national records very soon," he added. Presently, Dawson coaches the men's 400m athletes and Jerry Holness is training the women's 400m athletes. Both are from Jamaica. "Both have worked with some of the top force athletes in the world. So, they know what they are doing. It is just that we are not ready to accept that there is a certain amount of stuff that we need to do if we want to become world champions," Sumariwalla explained.
The worlds will be taken seriously by Indian athletes, considering both the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games are slated to happen next season. Sumariwalla is expecting the athletes to give out their best and improve their life-time bests. "All these championships are to be used to do your personal bests. If that gets you somewhere — great. If not, it will be a good experience for the next big championship. But they can't go there and run 30 per cent as best. That is not acceptable by the AFI. We are not putting pressure on them — We just want to perform their best or little bit better than that," Sumariwalla said.
He gave an example of Avinash Sable's disappointment in the 2023 Worlds where he failed to qualify to the finals of the men's 3000m steeplechase.
Squad: Men: Neeraj Chopra - javelin throw - wild card
Gulveer Singh - 5000m - direct qualification. 10,000m - by invite
Praveen Chithravel - Triple Jump - direct qualification
Abdulla Aboobacker - Triple Jump - world rankings
Sarvesh Kushare - High Jump - world rankings
Animesh Kujur - 200m - world rankings
Sachin Yadav - javelin throw - world rankings
Yashvir Singh - javelin throw - world rankings
Sreeshankar M - Long Jump - world rankings
Servin Sebastian - 20km race walk - world rankings
Ram Baboo - 35km race walk - world rankings
Sandeep Kumar 35km race walk - by invite
Rohit Yadav - Javelin throw - by invite
Tejas Shirse - 110m hurdles - by invite
Women: Parul Chaudhary - 3000m steeplechase - direct qualification
Ankita Dhyani - 3000m steeplechase - world rankings
Annu Rani - javelin throw - world rankings
Priyanka Goswami - 35km race walk
Pooja - 1500m - world rankings 800m - by invite
