File image of Deepa Malik

Top Indian 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable and javelin thrower Kishore Jena will hope to fine tune their Olympics preparations in the Paris leg of the prestigious Diamond League one-day meeting series on Sunday. Reigning Olympic and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has opted out of the Paris DL apparently due to an adductor niggle that has been troubling him for the past couple of months. Both Sable and Jena have not been in the best of forms and have not competed in too many events ahead of the Paris Games but they would be looking to get acclimatised to the conditions of the city which will host the Olympics.

Athletics competitions in the Olympics begin on August 1.

The 29-year-old Sable has competed in just two 3000m steeplechase events, one at the Portland Track Festival in the USA, where he has been training, and the other at the National Inter-State Championships in Panchkula, Haryana last week.

He had clocked 8:21.85 at Portland and 8:31.75 in Panchkula, while he has a personal best of 8:11.20.

After winning gold at the National Inter-State Championships, Sable had vowed to make amends for mistakes he committed in the last few years and deliver a memorable show at the Paris Olympics with a different approach.

“I committed mistakes in the last two years. I had gone with good fitness in the two world championships (2022 and 2023) but could not do well at both. I want to make amends, hope that this Olympics will be my best,” said the reigning Asian Games gold medallist.

On Sunday, he will be up against Kenyan Abraham Kibiwot, the 2023 World Championships bronze medallist and gold winner at the 2022 Commonwealth Games where Sable had won a silver.

Another Kenyan, Simon Kiprop Koech, the 2023 Diamond League champion, will also be a top-three contender on Sunday in the absence of reigning Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco and Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia.

In five Diamond League appearances so far in his career, Sable’s best show has been a fifth-place finish.

Jena has also had a forgettable season so far with efforts of 76.31m in Doha Diamond League and 75.49m in the Federation Cup before an 80.84m throw to win a bronze at the National Inter-State Championships.

He has a personal best of 87.54m which he did while winning a silver in the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023.

Jena, who will be competing in his second Diamond League on Sunday after Doha, had revealed that he was coping with a minor left ankle pain, which he felt after the Federation Cup (May 15-19) in Bhubaneswar.

“The pain has reduced and it’s almost all right now,” he had said in Panchkula last week.

He will be up against the likes of Tokyo Olympics silver medallist and 2023 Diamond League champion Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and reigning Commonwealth Games medallist and 2023 World Championships silver winner Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan.

India on Thursday named a 28-member athletics team for the upcoming Paris Olympics, headlined by superstar javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, but one more athlete — long jumper Jeswin Aldrin — is expected to be included by the national federation later. The 26-year-old Tokyo Games gold medallist and reigning world champion in javelin throw has decided to skip the last Diamond League this weekend in Paris in order to prepare for the quadrennial extravaganza as almost all the selected names are on expected lines.

The squad comprises 17 men and 11 women athletes with some of the other prominent names being Asian Games champions Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh Toor along with sprint hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, to name a few.

Top Indian long jumper Jeswin Aldrin is expected to be added to the team later after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) formally notifies the world governing body about the pulling out of M Sreeshankar, who had breached the automatic qualifying mark but later ruled out of the Olympics due to an injury.

Aldrin is just one spot outside the qualification bracket as he is at 33rd place in the World Athletics (WA) ranking quota list. There will be 32 athletes competing in the men’s long jump event in the Paris Olympics.

All the countries must inform WA by Thursday (July 4) midnight regarding any pullout of their athletes. During the period from July 4-6, WA will reallocate the declined quota places to the next best-ranked athlete in the same event. It will then publish the final list on July 7.

“It was decided in the selection committee meeting today that whoever gets quota place (through world ranking) later on will be added in the team,” Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair told PTI.

“So, once we inform WA that Sreeshankar is not participating, Aldrin will get the quota place and he should be added in the team,” he added.

Jyothi Yarraji will become the first Indian 100m hurdler to compete in the Olympics while shot putter Abha Khatua also made a surprise cut through world rankings.

High jumper Sarvesh Anil Kushare, who won gold at the National Inter-State Championships with an effort of 2.25m, also made it to the team.

Javelin thrower DP Manu, who made the cut, was expectedly not named in the team after his dope flunk last week. Olympic champion Chopra and Kishore Jena had made direct qualification.

Four Indian male 20km race walkers had breached the qualifying mark of 1 hour 20 minute and 10 seconds but Ram Baboo has been dropped for “lack of consistency” as a country can name only three athletes in an event.

Baboo was not also considered for the marathon race walk mixed relay and Suraj Panwar, who also made the grade through world ranking, was named instead to pair with Priyanka Goswami, the lone Indian in the women’s 20km event.

He was sixth at the National Race Walk Championships in January and did not finish at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya in April.

The 4x400m men’s relay team, featuring Muhammed Anas, Muhammed Ajmal, Amoj Jacob and Rajesh Ramesh, which had created quite a stir by leaving behind the USA team in one of the heats at the last World Championships, will also be followed with keen interest.

Ramesh has not run any individual 400m race this season and he pulled out of the race injured during the men’s 4x400m relay event at the World Relays Championships in Bahamas in May.

But, the AFI had said ahead of the National Inter-State Championships that his recovery has been satisfactory and he should be alright before the Olympics.

In the women’s 4x400m relay, Vithya Ramraj, MR Poovamma and Prachi got the nod on the basis of the trial held on the final day of the National Inter-State Championships. Ramraj, Poovamma and Prachi had finished first, second and third in the trial. Kiran Pahal, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan had more or less picked themselves in the team.

The track and field competition will be conducted at the Stade de France between August 1 to August 11.

The Team: Men: Avinash Sable (3,000m steeplechase), Neeraj Chopra, Kishore Kumar Jena (javelin throw), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Praveen Chithravel, Abulla Aboobacker (triple jump), Akshdeep Singh, Vikash Singh, Paramjeet Singh Bisht (20km race walk), Muhammed Anas, Muhammed Ajmal, Amoj Jacob, Santhosh Tamilarasan, Rajesh Ramesh (4x400m relay), Mijo Chacko Kurian (4x400m relay), Suraj Panwar (race walk mixed marathon), Sarvesh Anil Kushare (High Jump).

Women: Kiran Pahal (400m), Parul Chaudhary (3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m), Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles), Annu Rani (javelin throw), Abha Khatua (shot put), Jyothika Sri Dandi, Subha Venkatesan, Vithya Ramraj, Poovamma MR (4x400m relay), Prachi (4x400m), Priyanka Goswami (20km race walk/race walk mixed marathon).

India’s first individual gold medallist, Abhinav Bindra, and Paralympian Deepa Malik have been honoured with Special Recognition Awards at a ceremony celebrating Indians who have made a significant impact globally. India Global Forum’s (IGF) annual UK-India Awards 2024 at Fairmont Windsor Park, near London, on Thursday evening, honoured the sporting legends alongside a ‘Global Indian Icon Award’ for social crusader Arunachalam Muruganantham, in recognition of his revolutionary work in menstrual hygiene captured in the 2018 Akshay Kumar film ‘Pad Man’. Lord Anthony Bamford, founder of multinational construction giant JCB, was honoured with the Lifetime Contribution to UK-India Relations.

“For a global sport like the Olympics, it makes complete sense to have a closer relationship with the world’s largest population. Every fourth or fifth person in the world is in India, so there’s a lot of synergy there,” said Bindra, on India potentially hosting the Olympics during a discussion around the future of sport in the country.

“But more than infrastructure, I think what we need is a vision that actually transcends far beyond the sporting events itself. The Olympics, whenever held in India, has to be seen as a catalyst for change, how the Games can really address challenges and how it can seize opportunities.

“It really has to be a springboard for how we can make India healthier and make India a more inclusive country,” he said. “We have to use it as a guide to make India better through sport,” Bhindra said.

Bindra, who is a torchbearer at the Paris Olympics next month, expressed confidence in India’s performance in the games.

“We had our best ever start with seven at Tokyo and I’m quite sure that we better that and come back with our best-ever performance; and hopefully with our first female Olympic champion,” added the retired sport shooter.

Dr Deepa Malik, the first Indian Woman Paralympic Medallist and former president of the Paralympic Committee of India, echoed the sentiment for the Paralympics.

“In Paralympics, India’s journey to Paris 2024 is going to be far better than Tokyo 2020. The number of sports has increased – the last time we participated in nine sports, this time we are participating in 12 sports. Women’s participation has increased; we do see a potential there for medals to grow. I do see them in double digits again,” she said.

The UK-India Awards, which came towards the end of the week-long IGF London summit, recognise outstanding contributions of leaders in business, professional services, government, culture and social impact, highlighting their remarkable achievements in strengthening bilateral ties.

“My ambition is to be able to put this relationship with our business partners at a stage where it is really second to none, one in which innovation that happens at universities and research centres here in the UK has Indian partners and Indian partners help take those innovations to the global market by producing in India.

“In other words, a partnership that we make together for the world,” said Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami in his address at the ceremony.

Among some of the other winners this year were a ‘Significant Contribution to UK-India Relations Award’ for London’s Science Museum Group, ‘Research & Innovation Award’ for the Serum Institute of India and the University of Oxford for their vaccine collaborations and the ‘Culture and Creativity Award’ for Teamwork Arts behind the Jaipur Literature Festival in London.

The IGF UK-India Awards founder Manoj Ladwa added: “India’s transformation is not only in India’s interest, but also in the interest of the UK, which I believe stands the most to gain and, in fact, most to contribute as a partner of choice in this incredible journey.

“Whether it’s our world-class universities, our cutting-edge research institutes, our global supply chain networks, our sports and tech expertise, our defence and security capabilities, or the sheer financial might of the City of London, the UK has it all.” 

Anurag Thakur said the Indian contingent will improve its medal tally in Paris Olympics.