ALMATY (KAZAKHSTAN): Discus thrower Navjeet Kaur Dhillon failed to impress even though she won gold in the Qosanov Memorial Athletics Meeting here on Saturday and puts a question mark over their selection of the Commonwealth Games.
Dhillon won the event with a best throw of 56.24m. She had won gold at the National Inter-State Championships (June 10-14) in Chennai with a personal best of 55.67m.
Dhillon was included in the 36-strong Indian athletics Team on June 16 with driver “subject to guidelines reached in Kazakhstan” against her name. The CWG qualification guidelines prepared by the Indian Athletics Association (AFI) are 58.00 m for women discus throw.
It remains to be seen what the AFI will do in the case of Dhillon, who threw the discus over the CWG qualifying standard with an effort of 58.03m when he won gold at the Indian Grand Prix in Bhubaneswar in May.
The AFI had added five more athletes – high jumper Tejaswin Shankar, marathoners Srinu Bugatha and Anish Thapa, heptathlete Swapna Barman and 4x100m runner MV Jilna – to the team, pending the Indian Olympic increase in FI’s quota Association allocated to more than the current 36.
Shot putter Manpreet Kaur, who was named to the CWG team, disappointed by finishing third in her fourth attempt with a shot under par of 14.24m. That was her only legal throw. Earlier this month she had set a national record of 18.06m at the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai. She returned to competition last year after serving a four-year ban for failing dope tests.
Abha Khatua, who placed third at the national interstate championships, won the event with a best throw of 16.71 m.
Several Indian athletes, including star sprinter Hima Das, did not start their events. Hima could not travel to Kazakhstan due to visa problems. More than 20 Indian athletes are participating in the two-day gathering to achieve World Championships (July 15-24) and CWG qualification standards.
The deadline for World Cup qualification is Sunday.
Shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and hammer thrower Sarita Singh will compete on Sunday. Sarita was added to the CWG team “subject to guidelines achieved in Kazakhstan.
Toor’s participation in the CWG will also depend on “subject to performance in Kazakhstan”.
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