Javelin in spotlight as India hosts first Continental Tour event

NEW DELHI: India will host its maiden World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level meet in Bhubaneswar on August 10, with the men’s javelin event expected to be the headline act. The one-day event at the Kalinga Stadium will feature 160 athletes from 17 countries, including 97 from India, across 19 disciplines.

While Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra is not part of the field, India’s Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh will be leading the home challenge. They will face stiff competition from Sri Lanka’s Sumeda Ranasinghe, who has already qualified for the World Championships with an 85.78m throw, and Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, who has a season best of 85.14m. Yadav (85.16m) and Singh (82.57m) will look to improve their world ranking for qualification. Rohit Yadav and Vikrant Malik are the other Indians in the fray.

“This is the country's first Continental Tour event and we are hoping for a successful competition so that the world knows we can host such events,” said Athletics Federation of India President Bahadur Singh Sagoo.

The event, which carries a total prize fund of USD 25,000, will see athletes from countries like Sri Lanka (10), Malaysia (9), South Africa and Great Britain (4 each), and Nepal (13) taking part.

Beyond javelin, key Indian names include national 100m record holder Animesh Kujur, who will face Malaysia’s Muhammad Azeem Fahmi, and long jumper Shaili Singh, who will be up against Britain’s Alice Hopkins. In the 400m, India’s Aishwarya Mishra and Vithya Ramraj will compete against South Africa’s Shirley Nekhubui.

Murali Sreeshankar, fresh from three consecutive wins, will headline the men’s long jump, while national record holders Mohammed Afsal (800m) and Gulveer Singh (5000m and 10,000m) are notable absentees, with the latter competing abroad.