<p>Bengaluru: After making pitstops in Sangrur (Punjab), Nadiad (Gujarat), Ranchi and Chennai, the Indian Open Athletics Meetings (IOAM) will now be held here at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday. </p>.<p>The fifth of the eight scheduled one-day events in the domestic athletics’ calendar will have a few star attractions lining up to put their mid-season form to test. </p>.<p>Among them, Olympian Tajinderpal Singh Toor has confirmed his entry in the men’s shot put while middle distance runner Mohammed Afsal P, who has been on a national record-breaking spree in recent times, will be seen in action in the men’s 800m race. </p>.<p>Tejaswin Shankar, who has switched to decathlon as his main event and picked up a silver medal at the 26th Asian Athletics Championship (AAC) in Gumi, South Korea, last month, is returning to his pet event, the high jump, this weekend. </p>.Vithya, Rohit, Pooja, Krishan win gold in Taiwan Open athletics.<p>The 26-year-old national record holder (2.29m) of the vertical jump, representing JSW here, will be wary of Maharashtra’s Sarvesh Anil Kushare who has threatened to break his mark by notching a season’s best of 2.26m at the 28th National Federation Senior Athletics Championships in Kochi this April. The duel between the duo is expected to be an enthralling one on the day. </p>.<p>Tejaswin, who is based in the USA, will also be in fray in the men’s 110m hurdles. </p>.<p>In the women’s section, quartermiler and hurdle specialist R Vithya Ramraj, hopes to blaze through the track in the 400m hurdles. The 26-year-old three-time national champion from Tamil Nadu is coming to the City with a bronze at the AAC and a gold from the Taiwan Open Athletics. </p>.<p>As for the hosts, all eyes will be on 27-year-old Sneha SS in the women’s 100m dash while her male counterparts from the state - Aryan Manoj (100m) and Abhin B Devadiga (200m) who both won gold in their respective races at the state senior athletics championships a few days ago - will hope to impress in front of the home crowd. </p>.Two-time Olympic medallist hockey forward Lalit Upadhyay calls time on international career.<p>The women’s 100m dash could turn out to be a close affair with Telangana’s Nithya Gandhe along with local girls V Sudheeksha, Daneshwari AT and Sneha eager to outpace each other for top honours.</p>.<p>Triple jumper Jesse Sandesh, whose personal best of 2.24m came in 2023 and has a season’s best of 2.14m, will be another medal hope for Karnataka where he will have to tussle with 23 other jumpers for a place on the podium. </p>.<p>Following what promises to be an action-packed day in Bengaluru, the final three competitions of IOAM series will be conducted in Pune (Maharashtra), Patna (Bihar) and finish where it all began in Sangrur in July. </p>
<p>Bengaluru: After making pitstops in Sangrur (Punjab), Nadiad (Gujarat), Ranchi and Chennai, the Indian Open Athletics Meetings (IOAM) will now be held here at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday. </p>.<p>The fifth of the eight scheduled one-day events in the domestic athletics’ calendar will have a few star attractions lining up to put their mid-season form to test. </p>.<p>Among them, Olympian Tajinderpal Singh Toor has confirmed his entry in the men’s shot put while middle distance runner Mohammed Afsal P, who has been on a national record-breaking spree in recent times, will be seen in action in the men’s 800m race. </p>.<p>Tejaswin Shankar, who has switched to decathlon as his main event and picked up a silver medal at the 26th Asian Athletics Championship (AAC) in Gumi, South Korea, last month, is returning to his pet event, the high jump, this weekend. </p>.Vithya, Rohit, Pooja, Krishan win gold in Taiwan Open athletics.<p>The 26-year-old national record holder (2.29m) of the vertical jump, representing JSW here, will be wary of Maharashtra’s Sarvesh Anil Kushare who has threatened to break his mark by notching a season’s best of 2.26m at the 28th National Federation Senior Athletics Championships in Kochi this April. The duel between the duo is expected to be an enthralling one on the day. </p>.<p>Tejaswin, who is based in the USA, will also be in fray in the men’s 110m hurdles. </p>.<p>In the women’s section, quartermiler and hurdle specialist R Vithya Ramraj, hopes to blaze through the track in the 400m hurdles. The 26-year-old three-time national champion from Tamil Nadu is coming to the City with a bronze at the AAC and a gold from the Taiwan Open Athletics. </p>.<p>As for the hosts, all eyes will be on 27-year-old Sneha SS in the women’s 100m dash while her male counterparts from the state - Aryan Manoj (100m) and Abhin B Devadiga (200m) who both won gold in their respective races at the state senior athletics championships a few days ago - will hope to impress in front of the home crowd. </p>.Two-time Olympic medallist hockey forward Lalit Upadhyay calls time on international career.<p>The women’s 100m dash could turn out to be a close affair with Telangana’s Nithya Gandhe along with local girls V Sudheeksha, Daneshwari AT and Sneha eager to outpace each other for top honours.</p>.<p>Triple jumper Jesse Sandesh, whose personal best of 2.24m came in 2023 and has a season’s best of 2.14m, will be another medal hope for Karnataka where he will have to tussle with 23 other jumpers for a place on the podium. </p>.<p>Following what promises to be an action-packed day in Bengaluru, the final three competitions of IOAM series will be conducted in Pune (Maharashtra), Patna (Bihar) and finish where it all began in Sangrur in July. </p>