Asian Games | Tintu Luka withdraws from athletics squad after failing to recover from injury
Indian track and field athlete, Tintu Luka, has pulled out of the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia as she has failed to recover from a heel injury that made her miss the 2018 Gold Coast CWG as well. Luka had previously won the silver medal in the in the women’s 800m event at Incheon in 2014.
29-year old Tintu Luka, who represented India at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympic Games, is the current holder of the national record in the women’s 800m event. She is mentored by one of India’s most iconic women - PT Usha. However, The track and field event athlete from Kerala has been sidelined for quite some time now with a heel injury that had prevented her from participating in this year’s Gold Coast CWG.
Now, ahead of an AFI-held confirmatory trial which Tintu was scheduled to appear for, her mentor and coach - PT Usha revealed that Luka will not be able to take part in the confirmatory trial as she has not recovered from her heel injury. Luka, along with three other athletes, were set to travel to Thiruvananthapuram for the trial which was to be held on August 15 to see if she was to be considered for the Asian Games.
The Kerala-born runner, who won a bronze in the 2014 Asian Games, also did not take part in the June 26-29 National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Guwahati, which served as the qualifying event for the Asian showpiece which will start this month.Â
“Luka has pulled out of the confirmatory trials and hence she will not take part in the Jakarta Asian Games. We have written to the AFI that she will not be able to take part because she has not recovered fully from the heel injury.
“Luka can run with a normal running shoe but she is not being able to run wearing spikes. So, she has decided not to take part in the confirmatory trials,” a source close to Usha told PTI.
The AFI had earlier announced that the confirmatory trials will be held as scheduled on August 15. The sport of Athletics has the biggest number of participants in the Indian contingent with 50 out of 572 Indian athletes taking part in the Asian Games.