Annu Rani in action during the women’s javelin final in the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze event at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar recently.
| Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT
A last-minute scramble to get berths for the Tokyo World championships will be on full display when the five-day National Inter-State athletics meet begins at the Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.
So far, four athletes — Neeraj Chopra, Parul Choudhary (women’s 3000m steeplechase), Gulveer Singh (men’s 5000m), and Praveen Chitravel (men’s triple jump) — have made the cut to Tokyo.
And five more — Annu Rani (women’s javelin), Abdulla Aboobacker (men’s triple jump), Sachin Yadav, Rohit Yadav and Yash Vir Singh (all mens’ javelin throw) — have a very good chance to qualify through their World rankings and provided they give a good account of themselves in the Inter-State meet, which is the final selection trial for the Worlds to be held from September 13 to 21.
The rest of them will have to clearly make the grade through entry standards. Radhakrishnan Nair, chief coach of the Indian National team, said the total participants might not reach the tally of 28 like the previous edition in Budapest held in 2023.
“The numbers were more due to the presence of the men’s relay team in the last edition. This time, we have no hope of qualifying in the relays and moreover injuries to Avinash Sable (men’s 3000m steeplechase), Jyoti Yarraji (women’s 100mH) and to a few others have not helped our cause,” said Nair to mediapersons.
Praveen Chitravel said though he has already qualified, he wants to do something special in his home state. “I don’t know how much I’ll do. Some of my friends and relatives from the districts will come to watch me,” he said.
Published – August 19, 2025 09:08 pm IST
