New Delhi: The 32-member Indian athletics squad will get to work in Glasgow starting Monday as track and field events — among the few disciplines that still offer quality competition at the Commonwealth Games — get rolling. India’s able-bodied squad comprises 22 male and 10 female athletes while 11 para athletes will also bid to boost the medal tally.
India’s athletes enter the competition on the back of a fruitful home season that was followed by a 45-day training and condition camp in Spala, Poland where bulk of the able-bodied squad trained. Neeraj Chopra arrived in Glasgow from his training base in Switzerland while woman distance runner Parul Chaudhary tuned up in Ooty.
India will hope to better their eight-medal haul in athletics from Birmingham 2022, and for good reason. A sizeable number of the athletes enter the competition after setting creditable national records and meet records barely 60 days back.
When Athletics Federation of India (AFI) announced CWG qualifying standards earlier this year, there was consternation in the Indian camp. As many as 15 events demanded that Indian athletes better the national record, while two competitions — women’s 100m and women’s high jump — required athletes to equal existing records. Indian athletes responded by producing a summer to remember.
The Federation Cup held in May saw NRs set in men’s 100m, 400m, and pole vault, while decathlete Tejaswin Shankar became the first Indian to enter the 8000-point club. Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar reinforced his consistency with steady 8m-plus jumps while young and promising woman high jumper Pooja Singh set the NR at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong.
The event likely to draw the most attention on the track will be men’s 100m because of Gurindervir Singh, who enters the competition on the back of a searing 10.09 seconds run, a NR, at the Federation Cup. India’s fastest man will line up in lane 5 in Heat 4. The event features 77 athletes across 11 heats with Gurindervir boasting of the second fastest season’s best among them.
Jamaican Rohan Watson, with a personal best of 9.91secs and a season’s best of 10.05s, is expected to be Gurindervir’s toughest challenger on paper although it will be interesting to see how well he has adjusted to cold Glasgow. Chopra too mentioned the weather on Sunday.
“It’s definitely cold here and the conditions are tough. But we need to be mentally strong and not rue about the conditions because ultimately they are the same for everyone,” the double Olympics and worlds medallist said.
While Gurindervir is making his CWG debut, India will hope Sreeshankar uses his vast experience in the long jump pit. The 27-year-old with a personal best of 8.41m is a medal favourite, having bounced back remarkably from a ruptured patellar tendon on his left knee –
his take-off leg – that required surgery.
“I can’t expect my knee to be at 100 percent because the surgery was a very serious one. Thankfully, I am in my best shape. I am able to manage the knee better,” Sreeshakar told HT before leaving for the Spala camp. A CWG silver medallist from 2022, he will hope to go a level higher.
“I have the experience of competing in the UK. Conditions in Birmingham in 2022 were cold as well. It can rain as well, which tends to make matters worse, but I am mentally prepared for any eventuality,” Sreeshankar had said.
Slotted in Group A that features 10 jumpers, Sreeshankar has the season’s best (8.38m) as well as the personal best among them. India’s other long jump entry is Lokesh Sathyanathan, who has a season’s best leap of 8.21m, achieved twice this year in the USA.
The Indian duo will be wary of Tayjay Gayle of Jamaica, a 2019 world champion and a three-time Worlds medallist. He comes to Glasgow in red-hot form, having jumped 8m or above in nine of his 11 competitions this year.
Tejas Shirse, the 110m hurdler who bettered his national record about 45 days back at the Indian Athletics Series 9 in Ludhiana clocking 13.27secs, will be another Indian to keep an eye on.
Competing in his first CWG, Shirse has the season’s fastest timing among those who will take Lane 7 in Heat 1. In fact, among the 15 men competing in the two heats, only Jamaican Demario Prince has done better this season (13.01secs). Whether that translates into something special, we’ll know on Monday. The first three in each heat and the next two fastest qualified athletes will advance to the final that will be held later in the day.
