India’s javelin throw ace Neeraj Chopra is all set to make his mark at the National Federation Senior Athletics Competition 2024 which will begin at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on Sunday. The Olympic gold medalist started his season with a second-place finish at the Doha Diamond League on Friday. He will now compete in a domestic event in India for the first time since winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The lineup for javelin at the 27th edition of the Federation Cup also includes Asian Games silver medalist Kishore Jena. Neeraj will appear on the runway in the javelin throw event on May 15.
In the other events, national record holder Jeswin Aldrin will be in action in the men’s long jump. With the Olympic qualification window approaching its deadline on June 30, Jeswin will be aiming to breach the Paris 2024 long jump qualification standard of 8.27m.
Jeswin set the national record at 8.42m at the Indian Open Jumps Competition in March 2023. But since then he has not breached the entry standard for the upcoming Summer Games since the qualification period began on July 1 last year. In 2024, he is yet to cross the 8m mark. Murali Sreeshankar breached the qualification mark in the men’s long jump but got ruled out for the entire season due to a knee injury.
Two-time Asian Games champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor will be eyeing to defend his gold medal in the men’s shot put event. Toor holds the national record of 21.49m in the event. He needs to register a throw of 21.50m to meet the quota for Paris.
Amoj Jacob and Muhammad Ajmal, who are a part of the Indian men’s 4x400m relay team that secured an Olympic quota at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas last week, will feature in the men’s 400m race.
Asian Games champion Rajesh Ramesh will also take part in the 400m event. Rajesh won the gold medal in men’s 400m at the Federation Cup 2023 by clocking 45.75s. The Olympic qualification mark is set at 45s.
Similarly, Jyothika Sri Dandi, MR Poovamma and Subha Venkatesan, part of the women’s 4x400m relay team that secured an Olympics quota for India in the Bahamas, will compete in the women’s 400m. Asian Games medalist Vithya Ramraj will also compete in the Federation Cup at Bhubaneswar.
In the men’s triple jump event, Abdulla Aboobacker, the reigning Asian champion and a Commonwealth Games silver medalist, will compete against the national record holder Praveen Chithravel. Aboobacker is the defending champion at the Federation Cup.
Shaili Singh will need to surpass her mentor Anju Bobby George’s national record of 6.83 in the women’s long jump to book her berth in the upcoming Olympics qualification mark (6.86m).
Where to watch the Federation Cup 2024?
The live events of the 2024 Federation Cup will be available to stream online at the official YouTube channel of Athletic Federation of India.