Writer : M Sudharshan
The most awaited India’s premier domestic meet The Inter-State Athletics meet is set to commence on 10th June. This will be the last domestic meet for athletes to gain confidence and momentum leading up to the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games.
Triple Jump
Kerala will be the powerhouse in this event with the likes of Aboobecker (qualified for World Championship with a jump of 17.18m at IGP 4), Unnikrishnan, and Eldhose Paul winning the gold, silver, and bronze at IGP 4. Apart from them Praveen Chitravel from TN will give them a good fight who came 2nd in the Fed Cup held in March.
Long Jump
After the Fed Cup, we will get to witness 2 premiers Long Jumpers Sreesankar Murali and Jeswin Aldrin compete in the same event. Murali in particular is in red hot form and cleared a distance of 8.31m in Greece. In the Fed Cup, he cleared a distance of 8.36m setting up an NR.
Jeswin on the other hand after a successful Fed Cup didn’t have a good European trip failing to clear the 8m mark in any of the events he had participated in. He will back to his hometown and will look to put up a good show.
Mhmd Yahiya will be the dark horse who cleared 8.15m in IGP 4 and took the 1st spot. He has been putting up a consistent show going above the 8m mark and will look to continue the same.
400m Women
Priya Mohan and Rupal Chaudhary will again compete after the U20 Fed Cup held in Nadiad. None of the other Indian Quarter milers are having a good performance this season with the above two clocking below 52 sec. In the Balkan Relay competition held on the 4th and 5th. none of the Indians looked impressive even after a 2-month-long camp. Again the fight will be between Rupal and Priya to see who wins the 400m this time.
Javelin Throw
Yashvir Singh, Manu DP, Rohit Yadav, and Sahil Silwal will be the ones to look at the meet. Yashvir had cleared the 80m+ distance at IGP 4 bringing him to the 80m club. The qualifying mark for World Championships is set at 85m with only Neeraj Chopra qualifying. Lets see if we get to see a huge throw and clear the qualifying mark.
Sprint Race
Dhanalakshmi recently put up a good show claiming her PB in the 100m at the Balkan Relay competition competing along with Hima Das.
It will be a good competition between the best of Indian girls as Dutee would also like to mark her supremacy.
The 4*100m relay team too put up a good show coming close to the NR.
Amlan Borgohain, the NR holder in 200m is competing in both the sprint races. The winner of recently held U20 fed cup Aman Khokhar is listed in both races
400m Race
The men’s 400m shall be the most competitive in terms of the number of competitive athletes taking part. Arokia Rajiv, Ayush Dabas, Yahiya, Nirmal Tom will have the task cut out. Nirmal Tom in the Balkan Relay ran a sub 45sec and will look to emulate that once again.
Avinash Sable is listed to run in 3000m SC and 5000m
Hurdles
Dharun Ayyasamy after a long gap will run in the 400m Hurdles along with Pandi. Dharun holds the NR of 48.80 sec but for two years has not been in good form due to injuries. He ran a sub 50 sec in the Balkan Relay which will help to regain back his lost momentum and get to see him at his best.
