Neeraj Chopra Headlines 28-Member Indian Team For Olympics, Long Jumper Jeswin Aldrin Set To Be Included Later

India on Thursday named a 28-member athletics team for the upcoming Paris Olympics, headlined by superstar javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, but one more athlete -- long jumper Jeswin Aldrin -- is expected to be included by the national federation later. The 26-year-old Tokyo Games gold medallist and reigning world champion in javelin throw has decided to skip the last Diamond League this weekend in Paris in order to prepare for the quadrennial extravaganza as almost all the selected names are on expected lines.

The squad comprises 17 men and 11 women athletes with some of the other prominent names being Asian Games champions Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh Toor along with sprint hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, to name a few.

Top Indian long jumper Jeswin Aldrin is expected to be added to the team later after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) formally notifies the world governing body about the pulling out of M Sreeshankar, who had breached the automatic qualifying mark but later ruled out of the Olympics due to an injury.

Aldrin is just one spot outside the qualification bracket as he is at 33rd place in the World Athletics (WA) ranking quota list. There will be 32 athletes competing in the men's long jump event in the Paris Olympics.

All the countries must inform WA by Thursday (July 4) midnight regarding any pullout of their athletes. During the period from July 4-6, WA will reallocate the declined quota places to the next best-ranked athlete in the same event. It will then publish the final list on July 7.

"It was decided in the selection committee meeting today that whoever gets quota place (through world ranking) later on will be added in the team," Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair told PTI.

"So, once we