On Friday, the Athletics Federation of India(AFI) has announced the Indian Athletics squad for Commonwealth Games 2018. The squad comprises of 31 athletes including 18 men and 13 women.
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The names were announced after the selection committee meeting at NS-NIS Patiala on 8th March. However the official announcement was made on Saturday.
Out of the 31 athletes, 15 succeeded to achieve the qualification mark in Patiala, excluding the relay teams. The federation didn’t stick with the 4×100 relay teams and decided to go for other options.
“The inclusion of the relay team was done more in terms of exposure than any realistic hopes of a medal. Earlier what used to happen was, if we have a competition, then we field them for Asian Games etc. But that is not sufficient. Too many disqualifications recently is also a reason. They need to get used to baton exchange. We want to give them more exposure but the competitions they will be entered in will be planned after the Commonwealth Games,” AFI secretary-general CK Valson said.
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Not to forget, India won 3 medals in last Commonwealth Games held at Scotland. Experienced Vikas Gowda won gold in men’s discus throw. He will not be a part of the Indian contingent this time. Arpinder Singh won bronze in men’s triple jump and will look to better the colour of his medal. Seema Antil bagged a silver in women’s discuss throw, she will not be a part of the Indian squad this time.
Indian Athletics squad for Commonwealth Games 2018
Men
Jinson Johnson (1500 m)
Dharun Ayyasamy (4x400m relay)
Tejaswin Shankar (high jump)
Siddharth Yadav (high jump)
Sreeshankar (long jump)
Arpinder Singh (triple jump)
Rakesh Babu Arayan Veerttil (triple jump)
Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put)
Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw)
Vipin Kasana (javelin throw)
Irfan Kolothum Thodi (20km walk)
Manish Singh Rawat (20km walk)
Muhammed Anas Yahiya (4x400m relay)
Jeevan Karekoppa Suresh (4x400m relay)
Amoj Jacob (4x400m relay)
Kunhu Mohammed(4x400m relay)
Puthanpurakkal (4x400m relay)
Jithu Baby (4x400m relay)
Arokiyarajiv (4x400m relay)
Women
Hima Das (200m & 400m, 4x400m relay)
Suriya Loganathan (10000 m)
Nayana James (long jump)
Neena Pinto (long jump)
Seema Punia (discus throw)
Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (discus throw)
Purnima Hembram (Heptahalon)
Soumya Baby (20km walk)
Khushbir Kaur (20km walk)
Poovamma Raju Machettira (4x400m relay)
Sonia Baishya (4x400m relay)
Saritaben Laxmanbhai Gayakwad (4x400m relay)
Juana Murmu (4x400m relay).
