New Delhi: Some of India’s top stars such as Jyothi Yarraji, Avinash Sable and Tejaswin Shankar would be in action at the Asian Championships in Gumi, South Korea, starting next week. India will look to surpass its medal count of the previous edition. At the 2023 Asian meet in Bangkok, India returned with 27 medals that included six gold, 12 silver and nine bronze medals.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Avinash Sable will compte at Asian Championships. (Corbis via Getty Images)
“This is the first big competition for our athletes after the Olympics and it will test our athletes,” said Athletics Federation of India secretary general Sandeep Mehta. “We are expecting 25-30 medals this time.”
“We are hoping that our relay teams in men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m to qualify for the World Championships,” the AFI secretary general said.
The relay teams failed to qualify for the World Championships through the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China this month.
Asked whether there was any addition to the relay team, Mehta said they are going with new faces in 4×400 men’s team. “Its the team that was selected and it will be an opportunity for them to get good exposure.”
Mehta said the visa issues some athletes were facing, have been sorted. “Thanks to the Sports Ministry and (South Korean) Embassy, the visa issues were sorted in the evening,” Mehta said.
The first batch of athletes left from Delhi on Thursday. “The athletes will have two to three days to acclimatise in Korea,” Mehta added.
Gulveer Singh, who has broken 5000m and 10000m national records this season, said he is looking to qualify for the World Championship. “I am hoping to qualify for the World Championships in 10000m in Korea. I have already achieved qualification in 5000m,” said Singh, who trains at Colorado Springs.
The Asian Games medallist has a bronze in 5000m bronze from the last edition. He recently competed in his first Diamond League meet in Doha and finished 9th. “It was a good experience. There has been no rest since last year. I am continuously training and competing. The body is feeling good and I am able to push myself in competitions. for lats few season under Scott Simons.
In javelin, Sachin Yadav (84.39m) and Yashvir Singh (82.13m) will be hoping to make a mark.