As we celebrate the National Sports Day, the story of Indian sport continues in an all-too-familiar fashion. Every cloud will have a silver lining and every silver lining will have a cloud! On one hand we have our first-ever Athletics World Championships Winner in Neeraj Chopra (the man continues his trail-blazing journey) and on the other the Wrestling Federation is suspended putting on hold many Olympic dreams!
Since the last episode, there have been a substantial increase in the number of Quotas earned by Indian sportspersons.
Qualifiers:
Athletics
- Murali Sreeshankar in Men’s Long Jump crossed the Olympic qualification mark on way to winning a silver at the Asian Athletics Championships
- Avinash Sable in Men’s 3000m Steeplechase crossed the Olympics qualification mark in the Swedish Diamond League event.
- Neeraj Chopra in Men’s Javelin Throw crossed the mark with his first throw in the World Athletics Championships Qualifying. And later on went on to be crowned India’s first ever World Champion in Track & Field.
- Parul Chaudhary reached the World Championships Final in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase, created a new National Record and booked an Olympics berth for herself while finishing a creditable 11th.
Shooting: 4 Quota places earned at the World Shooting Championships
- Mehuli Ghosh finishes 3rd in the 10m Air Rifle.
- Akhil Sheoran finished 3rd in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions joining Swapnil Kusale at the event.
- Sift Kaur Samra earned a Quota Place in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions.
- Rajeshwari Kumari earned a Quota in Women’s Trap Shooting
India currently has Quota places in both Men’s & Women’s 10m Air Rifle, thus likely to get a Mixed Team Berth also. Special mention for Tilottamma Sen who finished 4th in 10 m Air Rifle but could not get a Quota due to new ISSF rules giving only one place per country at one event!
In Other News
- The Indian men’s 4x400m relay was a pleasant shock in the World Championships finishing 2nd in the Semis and 5th in the Finals, creating a new Asian Record and giving a mighty scare to many of the favorites. Although it is disappointing to see the Indian women’s relay team no longer the force they were.
- Neeraj Chopra is a true pioneer. Evidence is compatriots Kishore Jena and DP Manu finishing 5th & 6th respectively in the World Championships Final. What a sight it was to have 3 Indians competing in a single event till the very last stage!
- Hockey – Indian Men’s team comfortably won the Asian Champions Trophy, a good precursor for the upcoming Asian Games which also serves as the Olympic Qualifying event.
- Badminton - HS Prannoy continued the Indian medal winning streak going on since 2011 at the Badminton World Championships with a Bronze.
- Archery – No luck for India’s recurve archers at the Olympics qualifiers, but more chances are coming up.
- Basketball – Men’s pre Olympics Qualifiers – India finished 3rd and missed out on qualifying for the Olympics qualifiers.
- Handball – The Women’s team finished 5th in the Asian Qualification tournament and are out of the running.
Now for the Clouds
- Doping menace continues with Dutee Chand suspended for 4 years for doping violations & Bhwana Jat for 2 years for missing tests.
- Wrestling - The saga keeps getting murkier. Now other wrestlers have jumped into action claiming bias in direct selection of the likes of Bajrang Punia & Vinesh Phogat. Courts getting involved in the selection matters does augur well for anyone. Meanwhile the Wrestling Federation of India got suspended thus jeopardizing the Quota places at the World Championships.
Meanwhile the qualification race is heating up. Till next time. Next post will be after the Asian Games.
Qualification Summary for Team India
Sports: 2, Events 12, Entries:15, Athletes: 15
Links: Episode 6
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