Dutee Chand, M Sreeshankar to compete in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Indian ace women athletes Dutee Chand and long jumper M Sreeshankar were among the athletes who were named as participants for international competitions in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in July. The competitions are G Kossanov Memorial in Kazakhstan and Tatyana Kolpakova in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan.
The star sprinter had come to limelight after becoming the third Indian woman to ever qualify at the Summer Olympic Games in women's 100 metres event. Although nothing materialized there, she continued her run with two bronze medals at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships - one in the women's 100 metres and another in the Women's 4×100 m relay.
Her ability to leave back the 2014 hyperandrogenism controversy stunned many after she was subjected to public humiliation. She came second in 2018 Asiad in the women's 100 metres finals to win a medal after 32 years since P.T. Usha won in 1986, and bagged another silver medal in the Women's 200 metres final of the same tournament.
19-year-old Murali Sreeshankar came in public eye when he had said “I’ll be back” at the camera after finishing sixth in the long jump in Asiad 2018 with a 7.95m jump. A few weeks later, he broke the national record with an 8-plus jump. He has been a member of India’s athletics hopefuls club alongside Neeraj Chopra, Hima Das, and Tejaswin Shankar.
The Athletics Federation of India selection committee met on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Olympian GS Randhawa to pick the teams for the two events - XXIX International Meeting G Kossanov Memorial in Almaty (Kazakhstan) from July 6-7 and XXII International Competitions of Tatyana Kolpakova in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) from July 13-14.
The athletes were chosen based on the coaches’ recommendations and recent performances at the Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships and Indian Grand Prix events.
