Neeraj Chopra and Seema Antil named in India's 53 member athletics team for Asian Games

Neeraj Chopra and defending champion Seema Antil have been included to form the 53 member athletics team that will depart for Indonesia, presented with the prestigious opportunity of representing India at the Asian Games. Though these two Javelin throwers had been exempted from attending the National Interstate Athletics Championships in Guwahati, they will have to go through confirmatory trials on August 15 to cement their position in the squad.

Tintu Luka is also scheduled to undergo the confirmatory trials on August 15 to confirm her position in the squad. The top half-miler had missed the Championships at Guwahati due to her illness. On the insistence of her coach PT Usha, she has been given another chance at the trials.

“We have picked 50-odd athletes to be sent to the IOA. These athletes are those who had breached the qualifying guidelines in Guwahati plus some more who were very near to the qualifying mark,” Athletics Federation of India President Adille Sumariwalla told PTI regarding the selection of the athletes.

“We have strictly applied the IOA criteria of top six performance of the last Asiad and that is why the number of athletes is less this time,” he further added.

Through the quota given by the Asian Games organisers, 102 athletes are eligible to compete in the Asian Games from India. However, the finalization reveals that the number going to Indonesia will be half of the given quota.

“We are sending only the medal prospects and our guidelines are within top 4 performance of last Asian Games which is even stricter than that of IOA,” said the AFI chief.