Sreeshankar earns maiden call to national squad

KOCHI: M Sreeshankar, national junior record holder in the men's long jump event, has been named in the 13-member Indian team for the 8th

Asian Indoor Athletics Championships

to be held in Tehran, Iran from February 1 to 3.

The

Athletics Federation of India

selection committee which met under the chairmanship of Olympian

GS Randhawa

on Wednesday in New Delhi also selected a 36-member contingent which will represent India at the Asian Games test event competition to be held from February 11-14, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Jakarta will host the 18th Asian Games from August 18 to September 2.

CK Valson, secretary, AFI said that the team is short as "AFI excluded certain events due to the inexperience of our athletes on a 200m track in Tehran".

The 18-year-old, engineering student Sreeshankar set a record in the national junior meet held at Guntur couple of months back with a leap of 7.72m which also helped him book a berth to IAAF under-20 World Championships in Finland.

The Palakkad boy, son of international athletes S Murali and KS Bijimol, is in the team for both Tehran and Jakarta along with other Kerala jumpers Neena V and Nayana James. Another jumper Sheena N V, triple jumper, also figures in both squads while Asian champion in women's 1500m PU Chitra is in the team for Jakarta.

PT Usha trainee Jisna Mathew in 400m and 4x400m relay is another Kerala athlete in the squad.

Shot putter Om Prakash Singh has been picked for the indoor meet but for Jakarta meet, it will depend on his performance in Tehran.

Meanwhile, Indian cross country athletes will participate in the 14th Asian Cross Country Championships to be held at Guiyang, China on March 15. The team will be selected based on performance at the 52nd National Cross Country Championships to be held on Sunday in Goa.

Squads

For Tehran MEN: Muhammed Sadath & Elakkya Dasan (60m), Samsheer SE & M Sreeshankar (long jump), Arpinder Singh & Kamal Raj (triple jump), Tajinder Singh Toor & Om Prakash Singh (shot put); WOMEN: Dutee Chand (60m), Sanjeevini Jadhav (3000m), Nayana James & Neena V (long jump), Sheena NV (triple jump);

For Jakarta MEN: Sadath, Dasan, Vidya Sagar, Anuroop John, Satnaam Singh, CH Sudhakar (4x100m relay), Kunhu Muhammed, Jithu Baby, Jeevan KS, Sumit Kumar (4x400m relay), Santosh Kumar T, Jabir MP (400m, 4x400m relay), Jinson Johnson (800m), Ajay Kumar Saroj (1500m), G Lakshmanan (5000m), Davinder Singh Kang & Sahil Silwal (Javelin Throw), Tajinder Singh Toor & Om Prakash Singh (shot put, subject to the performance at Asian Indoors), Samsheer SE & Sreeshankar (long jump), Arpinder Singh & Kamal Raj (triple jump); WOMEN: Jisna Mathew & Soniya Baishiya (400m & 4x400m relay), Debashree Majumdar, Sarita Gaikwad, Nitya Shree (4x400m relay), Hima Das (200m, 4x400m relay), Chitra PU (1500m), Suriya L & Sanjivani Jadhav (5000m), Sarita P Singh (hammer throw), Nayana James & Neena V (long jump), Sheena NV (triple jump).