Olympic champion Chopra leads 37-member Indian athletics team for Birmingham 2022

Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will be in action in Birmingham ©Getty Images

Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra leads the Indian athletics team set to participate in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has named a 37-member squad with star sprinters Him Das and Dutee Chand making the cut through the women’s 4×100 metres relay team.

Avinash Sable, who broke the 3000m steeplechase national record again recently at the Diamond League in Rabat, will be in action in England.

Jyothi Yarraji, who broke her own 100m hurdles national record twice last month, will be joined by triple jump national record holder Aishwarya Babu.

Amlan Borgohain, who holds the 200m national record, failed to make the cut as he was not able to achieve the AFI standard set for the Commonwealth Games.

High jumper Tejaswin Shankar, who won gold at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships 2022 in the US last week with a season-best performance of 2.27m, is another notable absentee, after he failed to show up at the Inter-State Championships, which was the final Commonwealth Games qualification event.

Veteran discus thrower and four-time Commonwealth Games medallist Seema Punia will have the chance to represent India for the fifth time in the multi-sport event if she makes the qualifying standard set by AFI in a competition in the USA.

Tejaswin Shankar, who won gold at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships 2022 in the US last week with a season-best performance of 2.27m, was left out ©Getty Images

“Seema Punia’s participation in the CWG will absolutely depend on her performance in the USA,” AFI President Adille Sumariwalla said.

“We have allowed her to train and compete in the USA considering her past results in the CWG and Asian Games.”

In the men’s javelin, DP Manu and Rohit Yadav will join Chopra while triple jumpers Abdulla Aboobacker, Praveen Chithravel and Eldhose Paul have also sealed their spots.

Another athlete who must perform in an event in Kazakhstan to secure his place is Asian Games gold medallist shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor.

Amoj Jacob, who has made it to the men’s 4x400m relay team, is subject to his recovery and fitness level.

Jacob is set to be joined by Noah Nirmal Tom, Arokia Rajiv, Muhammed Ajmal, Naganathan Pandi and Rajesh Ramesh.

In men’s long jump, national record holder M Sreeshankar and Muhammed Anees Yahiya will be travelling to Brimingham.

By Vimal Sankar