NEW DELHI: Anju Bobby George will be the star attraction in the athletics squad of the Indian contingent for the 10th South Asian Federation Games, which commence in Colombo on August 18.

The 65-member athletics team also has Pinki Paramanik, who made a fine impression during the last Asian Grand Prix series. National record-holders Anil Kumar (100m), Hari Sankar Roy (high jump), Anuradha Biswal (women's 100m hurdles), and Gurmeet Kaur (women's javelin) are the other prominent athletes. The rest of the athletics team mainly comprises second-string seniors and juniors.

Like the athletics federation, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has also fielded a second-string team. Junior World champion in 10m air rifle event, Navnath Fartade, is part of the 25-member shooting squad.

The football and hockey teams also have a predominantly junior composition.

Best sportspersons

The other federations, however, have picked their best sportspersons. In archery, World Cup champion Jayanta Talukdar leads the challenge.

The government has cleared a 418-member contingent comprising 214 men, 106 women, 55 coaches, 21 managers, 10 medical staff and eight contingent officials. India will be taking part in 17 disciplines, two more than the 2004 Islamabad Games.

India will be competing in archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, football, hockey, judo, kabaddi, rowing, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball and wushu.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has named veteran shooter Ashok Pandit as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent.

Rangil Singh has been named Chef de Mission while Kamlesh Chatterjee will be the Deputy Chef de Mission.

No need to panic

In the wake of the bomb blast in Colombo on Monday, the IOA officials said that there was no need to panic and the contingent would leave on schedule.

The 24-member football team has already reached Colombo and most of the other teams will leave here on Wednesday. The athletics team will leave from here and Bangalore on August 21 and 22.

The IOA President, Suresh Kalmadi, said that he had spoken to the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo during the course of the day. "The Sri Lankan authorities have assured our High Commissioner that adequate security arrangements were being made" for the games and there was no cause for worry, Mr. Kalmadi said. "We are committed to participating in the games and we are going ahead with our participation," he added.

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