Top athletes to take part in National inter-state meet in Chennai

With the National inter-state athletics meet at the Nehru Stadium here from August 20 to 24 being the final selection trials for next month’s World championships (September 13 to 21), the majority of athletes will be eager to make the cut.

So far, only four — Neeraj Chopra (javelin), Gulveer Singh (men’s 5000m), Parul Chaudhary (women’s 3000m steeplechase), Praveen Chitravel (men’s triple jump) — have made it to the Worlds through entry standards.

Tamil Nadu Athletics Association first hosted the National inter-state meet way back in 1968. The Senior Nationals were last held here in 2022.

Around 700 athletes representing 35 teams from across the country will be taking part in Chennai.

Some of the prominent athletes from Tamil Nadu include Praveen Chitravel (triple jump), Vithya Ramraj (400m hurdles), Abinaya Rajarajan (100m), among others, are participating.

The other prominent athletes from other states include National javelin throw record holder Annu Rani, Punjab’s double Asian Games champion and former Asian shot put record-holder Tajinderpal Toor Singh, three-time Asian silver medalist Tejaswin Shankar (Delhi) in high Jump, Kerala’s former Asian champion triple jumper Abdulla Aboobacker and 800m Asian Games silver medallist Muhammed Afsal.

Also, elite sprinters Animesh Kujur from Odisha and Amlan Borgohain from Assam, long jump Asian silver medallist Murali Sreeshankar from Kerala, ace hurdlers Tejas Shirse (Maharashtra) and Pragyan Sahu (Odisha) are among the few top names who are in the fray.