Athletics Federation of India to name World Championships team on Saturday
The senior selection committee of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) met on Thursday but pushed the team announcement for next month’s World Championships to Saturday as it awaits clarity on athletes in borderline cases who could end up making the cut.
A few Indians like javelin thrower Rohit Yadav and 35km race walker Sandeep Kumar are just one spot down the bracket of qualified athletes, and they will make the grade for the Tokyo event if any one above them pulls out due to injury or other reasons.
All the member countries will intimate World Athletics by Friday about any of their athletes being pulled out due to various reasons. After that the confirmed athletes will be known and World Athletics will intimate the member countries.
“We will announce the team on August 30. More confirmation has to come from World Athletics by then,” a top AFI official told PTI.
Meanwhile, 19 Indians, led by star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, have qualified for the September 13-21 World Championships in Tokyo either through direct entry or world rankings, with long jumper Murali Sreeshankar making the cut at the last minute.
But Asian Games gold winner 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable has been ruled out after an ACL surgery while heptathlete Nandini Agasara, who qualified for the showpiece by virtue of being the Asian champion, has told PTI that she is not competing as she has not fully recovered from an elbow injury.
That will bring down the number of qualified Indian athletes to 17.
Sreeshankar, who missed the 2024 Olympics due to a knee surgery despite qualifying, made it to the list of 36 long jumpers who are to compete in Tokyo, taking the last spot after World Athletics (WA) updated the rankings on Wednesday.
After returning to action in July, Sreeshankar has won five competitions on the trot with his best being 8.13m while winning gold at the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level event in Bhubaneswar on August 10. He, though, failed to breach the automatic qualification mark of 8.27m.
An athlete can automatically qualify for the World Championships by breaching the qualification mark. The remaining slots required to fill up the total entry number for each event pre-determined by World Athletics will be handed through world ranking quota.
It is now up to the AFI to name the team. World Athletics rules allow the national federations to even leave athletes who make the cut.
For example, 20km race walker Akshdeep Singh has been placed at 47th spot out of 50 athletes to compete in Tokyo, but he has not taken the field for the last four months. His last competition was on April 19, and the AFI may also want to know his fitness condition.
Just like the 2023 edition in Budapest, at least three Indians are likely to compete in the men’s javelin throw event in Tokyo. The number may increase to four if Rohit, who won the gold in the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai on Sunday, moves up the ladder in the world ranking quota. He will make the cut if any one of the 36 above him withdraws.
Besides Chopra, who has already received a wild card by virtue of being the defending champion, Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh are in the 36-athlete bracket. Chopra had also breached the automatic qualification mark of 85.50m.
Besides Chopra, only Sable, Parul Chaudhary (women’s 3000m steeplechase), Gulveer Singh (men’s 5,000m) and Praveen Chithravel (men’s triple jump) have breached the automatic qualification mark.
Women’s 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji was in contention till she ended her season due to an injury and subsequent surgery.
Published on Aug 28, 2025