The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Monday announced a 26-member team to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. The athletics events at the Olympics start on July 31 and it will run through August 9. AFI President Adille J. Sumariwalla said that the federation is looking forward to a good show by the team. “We are happy that it is a well-prepared team, physically and emotionally, for the Olympic Games. The world has been through a lot and athletes have been challenged to stay in good shape, retain form and in good spirits,” Sumariwalla said in an official release.“We are pleased that our athletes have remained in training ever since lockdown was lifted,” he added. Sumariwalla said it was significant that as many as 12 individual athletes and our 4x400m mixed relay team had attained entry standards, laid down by World Athletics, to secure automatic berths.Dutee Chand (women’s 100m and 200m), MP Jabir (men’s 400m Hurdles), Gurpreet Singh (men’s 50km race walk) and Annu Rani (women’s Javelin Throw) are assured of entries on the strength of their rankings.
The squad: Men: Avinash Sable (3000m Steeplechase); MP Jabir (400m Hurdles): M Sreeshankar (Long Jump); Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Shot Put); Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh (Javelin Throw); KT Irfan, Sandeep Kumar and Rahul Rohilla (20km Walk) and Gurpreet Singh (50km Walk); 4x400m Relay: Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Muhammed Anas, Naganathan Pandi, Noah Nirmal Tom; 4x400m Mixed Relay: Sarthak Bhambri, Alex Antony
Women: Dutee Chand (100m and 200m); Kamalpreet Kaur and Seema Antil-Punia (Discus Throw) and Annu Rani (Javelin Throw); Bhawna Jat and Priyanka Goswami (20km Walk) and (Mixed 4x400m Relay): Revathi Veeramani, Subha Venkatesan & Dhanlakshmi Sekhar.