Chance for Indian athletes to qualify for CWG

CHENNAI - Asian giants China, Japan and Korea have done a good turn for India by opting to send their second rung athletes for the third and concluding leg of the Asian Grand Prix to be held here Wednesday.

The absence of the top athletes provides an excellent opportunity for the Indians, for whom it is another chance to qualify for this year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

But then, many of the top Indian athletes themselves are elsewhere preparing for the Delhi event and that has taken the gloss off the event with the organisers deciding to finish the competitions in one day instead of two.

In fact, the Indian Grand Prix will be held concurrently and will precede the Asian competition. In all, 320 athletes will be seen in action with the Indian strength being 189.

Much of the attention from the home perspective will be on one-lapper SK Mortaza and triple jumper Renjith Maheswari, both of whom dominated their events at Pune and Bangalore. The duo is expected to complete a sweep.

A few of the Indians notched their personal bests in the two earlier legs and would be looking to improve on those performances.

Among them, India’s top women’s 800 metres runner, Tintu Luka, after missing the Bangalore leg due to indisposition, would be keen to make amends here and better her silver medal performance in Pune.

The weather could also influence the performances though the events are scheduled to start late in the evening, but the oppressive heat and humidity still need to be factored in.

The interest among the public here is rather lukewarm and it hardly bodes well for the athletes to perform in front of empty stands, but that has been the norm rather than the exception.