At any athletics meet globally, sprint is the blue-ribbon event but in India the attention is always on Javelin Throw, middle distance running, and jumps. However, for the first-time the eyes will be on the 100m and 200m as the World Athletics Continental Bronze level tour event takes shape for tomorrow at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
The likes of Animesh Kujur, Gurindervir Singh, Manikanta, and Amlan Borgohain have brought the Indian sprinting to headlines with the record breaking spree in 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relays. Currently, Animesh holds the both 100m and 200m record and the quartet holds the 4×100 record. The other reason for the sprint hype is the presence of Malaysian national record holder Muhammad Azeem Fahemi in the 100m who has a personal best of 10.01s (wind-assisted) and holds the Malaysian NR of 10.09s. Fahemi, who trains and competes at the NCAA in the US, ran 10.01s in May this year but it was wind-assisted. He will take on Amlan Borgohain of India who has blown hot and cold this season but will pose a serious threat to Fahemi in his favourable conditions.
At the venue in Bhubaneswar, while Amlan does a few sit-ups and Fahemi warms up, the attention turns to Animesh as he is the hot property among the volunteers of the event as they take their turns to click a picture with him. The sprinter from Chhattisgarh has been the leader of the pack as he ran at the coveted Monaco Diamond League in the age-group 200m race alongside Australian prodigy Gout Gout.
With the time for World Championships qualification coming to an end on 24th August, Animesh needs to perform well at this event in order to earn ranking points.
“I have been doing well in Europe this season and I am very excited to run in front of my home crowd. It feels good to be back home and run after traveling around the globe,” Animesh tells The Indian Express.
Importance of the event
Apart from being the first-ever World Athletics Continental Tour event in the nation, it holds important ranking points for Indian athletes eyeing World Championships qualification. One such athlete is triple jumper Abdulla Aboobacker who is currently placed 32nd in the race to World Championships. “I know I am in the qualification race. A good result here will get me more ranking points to strengthen my qualification,” says Abdulla.
On the other end of the warm up area, Sreeshankar Murali is just walking up and down. While he politely refuses to talk to the media before the event, he says, “This event is very important to me and I have to go all out.” On a comeback trail after missing the Paris Olympics, Sreeshankar needs to breach the qualification mark of 8.27m as he is nowhere close through the ranking gateway.
A jet-lagged Annu Rani wants to go past the World Championship qualification mark after finding her rhythm and throwing 62.59m this week in Poland.
Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. (Express photo by Pritish Raj)
“I have been trying hard to get my rhythm back after the Asian Games. I have only thrown at the International events before, it is good to be back and throw in front of the our own people,” she says.
A tight Javelin field
Like any other Indian event, Javelin Throw is the most competitive field of the tournament. A continental tour event in India means it is a good exposure for South Asian countries like Sri Lanka. Sumedha Ranasinghe and Rumesh Pathirage, who have already qualified for World Championships, see this tournament as a good warm up for the Worlds.
“It is rare that we have such high-level tournaments in India and the local competition of India is very high. This tournament will serve me well for me in the run-up to the World’s,” says Sumedha.
Sumedha and Rumesh have personal bests of 85.78m and 85.41m respectively and Indian throwers Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh, Shivam Lohakare will face tough competition from their neighbours. While both Yashvir and Sachin are well placed in the rankings to qualify for the Worlds, a good day might result in them breaking the qualification mark of 85.50m.
A challenge for organizers
While Kalinga Stadium has witnessed star power when current Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra came to compete in the Federation Cup Athletics last year ahead of the Paris Olympics, the continental tour poses different challenges to the organisers. “There have been certain challenges as we had to fit 19 events in the space of three hours. It is more like a small Asian Athletics Championships that was held here in 2017,” says an AFI official.
The successful organization of this event can result in India getting more international events in the near future. “We have been trying to get the World Continental Tour level event to India for a long time. We wanted to do a silver or a gold level event but World Athletics asked us to start with the bronze level. It is helpful for the aspirations of holding a Diamond League or World Championships in the future,” says Adille Sumariwalla, former AFI president and World Athletics Vice-president.
India already conducted a World Athletics Category A level last month when Bengaluru hosted Neeraj Chopra Classic, a Javelin exclusive event. When asked about the aspiration of hosting a World Championship, Adille says,”There are a lot of parameters which World Athletics considers. We want to host this event successfully and upgrade to silver or gold next year.”
Athletes to watch out for:
India: Animesh Kujur, Sreeshankar Murali, Sachin Yadav, Abdulla Aboobacker, Shaili Singh, Annu Rani
Overseas: Muhammed Azeem Fahemi (Malaysia), Sumedha Ranasinghe, Rumesh Pathirage (Sri Lanka), Alice Hopkins (Great Britain)
Animesh Kujur during practice. (Express photo by Pritish Raj) 
Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. (Express photo by Pritish Raj)
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