Indian squad minus the stars for Asian athletics starting today
A 60-member Indian squad, sans stars like long jumper Anju Bobby George and 1500M runner Sinimole Paulose, will take part in the 18th Asian Athletics Championships beginning here on Tuesday.
India, who finished second behind China in the last edition in Amman, Jordan, in 2007, will be without Anju, who has not participated in any competition after her injury during the Beijing Olympics. Anju won a silver in Amman.
Sinimole, who won gold in 1500M and silver in 800M in Amman, has also been left out, along with JJ Sobha and Sushmita Singha Roy, who won a silver and bronze respectively in women’s heptathlon in 2007.
Another top woman athlete, Preeja Sridharan, who won a silver each in 500M and 1000M, will also not be seen in action.
The squad: Men: Arunjith (200M; 4X100M relay), Chatholi Hamza (1500M), Joseph Abraham (400M hurdles), G Nagaraj (100M; 4X100M relay), Sathya Suresh (100M, 4X100M relay), Ritesh Anand (4X100M relay), Mohd Abdul Najeeb Qureshi (4X100M relay), Sameer Mon (4X100M relay), Bibin Mathew (400M, 4X400M relay), Sheikh Mortaja (400M, 4X400M relay), Joseph Abraham (4X400M relay), Binu Mathew (4X400M relay), Harpreet Singh (4X400M relay), VB Bineesh (4X400M relay), Om Prakash Singh (shot put), Babubhai Panucha (20km walk), Sandeep Kumar (10000M), Sunil Kumar (1500M), Renjith Maheswary (triple jump), Kashinath Naik (javelin throw), Om Narayan (javelin throw), Hari Shankar Roy (high jump), Amarjeet Singh (triple jump), Bhartinder Singh (decathlon), Elam Singh (3000M steeplechase), Harminder Singh (20km walk), Jaibir Singh (3000M steeplechase), Mahan Singh (long jump), Surendra Singh (5000M), Shishpal Prakash Verma (800M), Saurabh Vij (shot put).
Women: Reshmi Bose (long jump, triple jump), Manjunath Jyothi (100M, 4X100M relay), Narayana Sharadha (100M, 4X100M relay), Kanchana Priya Premachandram and Nidhi (4X100M relay), Mandeep Kaur (400M, 4X100M relay, 4X400M relay), Manjeet Kaur (400M, 4X400M relay), Sini Jose (4X400M relay), K Soman Chitra (4X400M relay), Priyanka Pawar (4X400M relay), Harwant Kaur (discus throw), Jhuma Khatun (5000M), Sahana Kumari (high jump), Tintu Lukka (800M), MA Prajusha (long jump, triple jump), Sukanya Mishra (hammer throw), Krishna Poonia (discus throw), GG Promila (heptathlon), Kavita Raut (5000M, 10000M), S Saraswathi (javelin throw), Simon Rajam Bindhu (1500M), Sushma Devi (800M, 1500M), Kiran Tiwari (3000M steeplechase), V Sureka (pole vault).
