The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Indian squad for Asian Grand Prix

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Thursday, May 21, 2009
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Indian squad for Asian Grand Prix

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has chosen a 38-member team for the Asian Grand Prix series to be held in China. The meets will be held in Suzhou (May 23), Kunshan (May 27) and Hong Kong (May 30).

Dropped

Initially, the AFI had picked a 46-member team including the women’s 4x400m relay quartet, but dropped it along with two women quarter-milers, national record holder Mandeep Kaur and Chitra Soman, both having had a lean patch of late. Both were, in fact, chosen by the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) based on their previous year’s performance.

The women’s 4x400m relay team has already qualified for the World championships in Berlin in August while teams in men’s 4x100m and 4x400m and women’s 4x100m will try to achieve the qualifying standards during the Asian Grand Prix series.

The series will also provide opportunities to Indian athletes to attempt to qualify for the World championships. A lone athlete, intermediate hurdler Joseph Abraham, achieved the norm during the Indian Grand Prix meet in Chennai.

The team: Men: Bibin Mathew and Sheikh Mortaza (400m); R. Rajeev and Prakash Verma (800m); Ravinder Sharma Bhardwaj, Kashinath Aswale, Sandeep Kumar, Surendra Kumar Singh and Elam Singh (3000m/5000m); Krishna Mohan (110m hurdles); Hari Sankar Roy, Benedict Starli and Jithin Thomas (high jump); Anil Kumar Singh, Kashinath Naik and Rohit Kumar (javelin), Om Prakash Singh, Satyendra Kumar Singh and Saurabh Vij (shot put), Abdul Najeeb Qureshi, Shameermon, S. Arunjith and Ritesh Anand (4x100m); Bibin Mathew, Sheikh Mortaza, V.B. Bineesh, Ajay Kumar and Vinay Chaudhary (4x400m).

Women: K. Mridula and K. Sowjanya (400m); Sushma Devi (800m); Sahana Kumari and Susmita Singha Roy (high jump); M.A. Prajusha and Gayathri (triple jump); Seema Antil, Krishna Poonia and Harwant Kaur (discus); H.M. Jyothi, Nidhi Singh, K. Sowjanya, Susmita Singha Roy and Gayathri (4x100m).

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