Neeraj Chopra To Lead India's 37-Member Athletics Team At Commonwealth Games

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Thursday named a 37-member Indian athletics team, to be led by Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, with the selection committee picking the athletes on expected lines with no major surprises. Out the of the 37 picked by the selection committee of the AFI, 18 are women, with the likes of star sprinters Hima Das and Dutee Chand getting their berths through the women's 4x100m relay team.

The selectors also named a men's 4x400m relay team.

The team also have the likes of Avinash Sable, who broke his own 3000m steeplechase national record for the eighth time recently, as well as Jyothi Yarraji, who broke her own 100m NR twice last month.

It also has Aishwarya Babu, who smashed her own triple jump national record with a stunning 14.14m effort during the recent National Inter-State Championships in Chennai. However, 200m national record holder Amlan Borgohain, who won a sprint double (100m and 200m) during the National Inter-State, missed the bus as he could not reach the CWG qualifying standard set by the AFI. Although selected, some of the athletes will have to prove their form and fitness before the Birmingham Games.

Veteran discus thrower Seema Punia has been given a chance to feature in her fifth CWG considering her past performances in the Games. Her participation, however, is subject to reaching the qualifying standard set by the AFI in a competition in USA.

Punia has won a medal in each of the four CWG she has taken part earlier.

"Seema Punia's participation in the CWG will absolutely depend on her performance in the USA," AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said.

"We have allowed her to train and compete in the USA considering here