Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru

The Athletics Federation of India confirmed on Friday that an Indian Grand Prix will be held in Bengaluru on July 10 and 11 to give the athletes another chance to qualify for the Olympic Games.

The event will be held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium and the events will be finalised soon, AFI Secretary C K Valson told reporters. “There is a chance that more Indians might qualify and we want to give them another opportunity,” Valson said.

Indians are also competing abroad in the coming days as the deadline (July 11) approaches to meet the Olympic standards. The 4x100 relay teams will be in action in Kazakhstan on July 4 while Dharambir Singh (200M), Renjith Maheswary (triple jump) and O P Singh (shot put) will take part in the Thailand Open from July 4 to 7.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan team to compete against India in the relay races on Saturday at the Inter-State meet arrived on Friday. India will be fielding three teams in each of the relays – men’s 4x400 and women’s 4x400.

With Nirmala Sheoran notching a stunning win in the 400 final on Friday, all eyes are on the women’s race. Valson said the Haryana runner would be part of the ‘C’ team, with the ‘A’ team comprising M R Poovamma, Anilda Thomas, Jisna Mathew and Tintu Luka.

The top four athletes who ran the 400M ‘B’ race – Ashwini Akkunji, Debashree Majumdar, Anu Raghavan and Juana Murmu – will form the India ‘B’ team.