CWG 2022: Will Indian athletes be able to repeat their 12-year-old performance in Neeraj Chopra’s absence?

Birmingham. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra’s withdrawal has come as a blow to India but the Indian athletics team that has gone to the Commonwealth Games has several players who can be considered medal contenders as they compete in the track and field events starting on Tuesday. .

Chopra, who won the gold medal in Gold Coast four years ago, will not be able to defend his title in javelin throw as he was injured during the World Championships in the US last month. Chopra won the silver medal in the World Championship. In his absence, long jumper Murli Sreesankar, steeple chase player Avinash Sable, experienced discus thrower Seema Poonia, javelin thrower Anu Rani will be India’s focus.

India hopes for at least 6 medals in athletics
India is expecting at least one medal in triple jump from Praveen Chitravel, Abdullah Abubakar and Aldhos Paul. These three are currently among the best performing players in Commonwealth countries. With a host of new athletes coming into India after Chopra’s golden success at the Tokyo Olympics last year, she is expected to bag at least half a dozen medals at the Birmingham Games.

India’s best performance in athletics at the 2010 Games
India’s best performance in the athletics competition of the Commonwealth Games was in Delhi in 2010, when it won two gold, three silver and seven bronze medals. It is difficult to repeat this performance but Indians can try to do their second best. Indian athletes had won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal in 2014 and 2018 respectively, which is their second best performance.

Sreeshankar expected in long jump
Sreesankar and Mohammad Anees Yahiya will participate in the men’s long jump from India on Tuesday. National record holder Sreeshankar is in good form now and can win at least a bronze medal if he repeats his personal best of 8.36m.

India can get medal in discus throw
India can get a medal in women’s discus throw on the very first day in athletics. In this competition, Seema Poonia and Navjeet Kaur will present their challenge from India. In the last Commonwealth Games, he had won silver and bronze medals respectively. Seema, who is participating in the Commonwealth Games for the fifth time, will try to win her fifth medal. He has so far won three silver and one bronze medal. She has never returned empty-handed from the Commonwealth Games and is determined to win a medal this time as well.

Dutee Chand 100m. will enter the qualifying round of
National record holder in women’s shot put Manpreet Kaur will also compete on Tuesday while sprinter Dutee Chand will take part in the qualifying of the 100m race. High jumper Tejaswin Shankar will also participate in the qualifying round. India has so far won a total of 28 medals including five gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze medals in the athletics competition of the Commonwealth Games.

Sekar Dhanalakshmi and Aishwarya Babu were dropped from India’s 36-member squad for failing doping tests. Dhanalakshmi had no chances in the 100m but this has weakened India’s women’s 4x100m relay team. The men’s marathon concluded on Saturday, in which India’s Nitendra Rawat finished 12th.

First read breaking news in Hindi News18 Hindi| Read today’s latest news, live news updates, most reliable Hindi news website News18 Hindi.

Tags: Commonwealth Games, cwg, Neeraj Chopra, Seema Punia