Seven Indians in action on day one of the world championships
There will be a lot of Indian interest on the day one of the championships as there are as many as seven Indian who will be competing. This is by far the most active day for the Indian contingent which has faced many hurdles before finally making it to Oregon USA.
In the morning session there are two finals in which the Indians are competing. Both the National record holders in the 20km Race Walk competition from India will be eyeing to put up a good show in a fiercely competitive race. While in the women section there are 42 participants the men section has 46 participants. The 20km Race Walk women starts are 1:40am in the morning of 16 July while the men will be starting at 3:40am
The evening session will see the Record breaking man Avinash Sable competing in the heat 3 of 3000m Steeplechase. As per the season best he should be able to make it to the Final as the First three in each heat & fastest six overall will qualify. Going by the way Avinash has been performing he should make the finals as the first three, also as he is competing in the last heat there would be clarity on exactly what is the requirement to be in the fastest six. The race starts at 6:15am on 16th July, so a good early morning for the fans in India
Along with the race there will be three bright stars of the long jump who will be representing India, this is the first time India has three entries in the long jump competition in the World Championships. Jeswin & Anees are in the Group A while the National record holder Murali Sreeshankar is in the Group B. The automatic qualifying mark is set at 8.15, however it looks unlikely that there will be a lot of automatic qualifiers so they will have to rely on making the best 12 to make the final. The competition starts at 6:30 am
In the Men Shot Put competition Tajinderpal Toor will be representing India, he currently holds the Asia Record in Shot put and after the fiasco in Tokyo he will be eyeing to put a good show in a very strong field. The automatic qualifying mark is set at 21.20 and its very likely that this gets achieved looking at the competition in the field. The action starts at 7:25am.
Here is the full schedule for Indians on day one
Day1 | 15 July
Morning Session
- 20km Race Walk Women | Final | 01:40am [16 July] | Priyanka
- 20km Race Walk Men | Final | 03:40am [16 July] | Sandeep Kumar
Evening Session
- 3000m Steeplechase Men | Heats | 06:15am [16 July] | Avinash Sable
- long Jump Men | Qual | 06:30am [16 July] | Murali Sreeshankar, Md Anees Yahiya, Jeswin
- Shot Put Men | Qual | 07:25am [16 July] | Tajinderpal Toor
