Neeraj Chopra headlines Indian squad for Worlds

Bengaluru: The Athletics Federation of India on Sunday announced a 19-member squad (14 men and 5 women) for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from September 13-21.

Only three of the athletes — namely Gulveer Singh (5000m), Praveen Chithravel (triple jump) and Parul Chaudhary (3000m steeplechase) — directly qualified by breaching the World Athletics' standards, while the rest of them made it through either World Rankings or WA invitation.

Javelin star Neeraj Chopra remains the brightest medal hope as he looks to defend his title after his maiden gold success in 2023 Budapest. His wild card entry as defending champion paved the way for the inclusion of three further javelin throwers — namely Sachin Yadav, Yash Vir Singh, Rohit Yadav — based on their World Rankings.

Rohit, who was ranked 37th, was squeezed in late in the 36-athlete event as 35th-ranked Manu Quijera of Spain failed to breach his nation's set qualification standard of 82.70m and wasn't included in the squad.

This also marks the first instance when four Indian javelin throwers will compete together at the Worlds after three of them competed in Hungary, including Kishore Jena and Manu DP.

Among other firsts, 200m sprinter Animesh Kujur and 110m hurdler Tejas Shirse are all set to make India's first appearances in the respective events. While Kujur made the cut through rankings, Shirse, currently ranked 63rd, earned WA's invitation for the 40-man event.

Also, three athletes couldn't make the list despite qualifying due to injury. This prominently includes experienced 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable, who has been recuperating in the SAI Bengaluru since his knee surgery. The other two injured names are heptathlete Nandini Agasara and race walker Akshdeep Singh.

While Agasara opted out of the event, citing an elbow injury suffered during her gold medal show at the Asian Championships in Korea last May, Singh, who qualified for the 20km race walk, was declared unfit by AFI during a virtual press conference on Saturday.

"Avinash Sable, Nandi Agasara and Akshdeep Singh were not included as they are all recovering from injuries," said AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla. "Nandini is yet to recover from her elbow injury, while Akshdeep is declared unfit by his coach."

Chief coach Radha Krishnan Nair also confirmed that the squad will reach Tokyo 10 days before the event and a camp will be held in the city on September 4-9. Neeraj, who is currently training with coach Jan Zelezny in the Czech Republic since July, will join the camp on September 5.

The remaining three javelin throwers, who are joining from India, will not be part of the camp and will join the squad on September 9 as the javelin events are slated late in the competition.

Squad: Men: Neeraj Chopra, Sachin Yadav, Yash Vir Singh, Rohit Yadav (javelin throw); Tejas Shirshe (110m hurdles); Gulveer Singh (5000m & 10000m); Praveen Chithravel, Abdulla Aboobacker (triple jump); Sarvesh Kushare (high jump); Animesh Kujur (200m); M Sreeshankar (long jump); Servin Sebasthiyan (20km race walk); Ram Baboo, Sandeep Kumar (35km race walk).

Women: Annu Rani (javelin throw); Parul Chaudhary, Ankita (3000m steeplechase); Priyanka (35km race walk); Pooja (1500m & 800m).