Commonwealth Games 2022: Neeraj Chopra headlines India's 37-member athletics contingent

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra will lead India's 37-member track and field squad for the Commonwealth Games 2022, which will be held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) announced on Thursday.

The AFI also confirmed the participation of Tokyo Olympians Avinash Sable (men’s 3000m steeplechase) and Murali Sreeshankar (men’s long jump). Dutee Chand and Hima Das will compete in the 4x100m relay team.

However, some athletes, including discus thrower Seema Punia and shot putter Tejinderpal Singh Toor, were provisionally named in the squad but will have to prove their performances in events prior to the Commonwealth Games.

Race walker Bhawna Jat and quarter-miler Amoj Jacob’s inclusion are subject to their fitness.

National record holder in high jump Tejaswin Shankar, who did not take part in the recently concluded National Inter-State athletics meet, and long jumper Jeswin Aldrin, were excluded from the team despite achieving qualifying standards.

"Our rule is very, very clear that everyone will have to participate at the inter-state," Adille Sumariwalla reasoned behind Tejaswin Shankar’s exclusion. "We have given permission to only Avinash Sable, Neeraj Chopra and Seema Punia to compete abroad and be exempt from this meet.”

For Jeswin Aldrin, the AFI noted that after clinching gold at the Indian Grand Prix 1 and then achieving 8.37m at the Federation Cup, the long jumper’s performance dipped considerably.

Jeswin Aldrin managed a jump of 7.51m at the Inter-State athletics meet and finished sixth.

Quarter-miler Priya Mohan also failed to make the cut as she did not meet the required bench-mark of 50.13s.

No Indian achieved the qualification mark in 200m or the women’s 400m. Dhanalakshmi Sekar will be the only athlete to compete in the 100m at the CWG 2022.

Indians qualified for Commonwealth Games 2022 athletics

*To be confirmed

Men

Avinash Sable - 3000m Steeplechase

Nitender Rawat - Marathon

M Sreeshankar - Long Jump

Muhammed Anees Yahiya - Long Jump

Abdulla Aboobacker - Triple Jump

Praveen Chithravel - Triple Jump

Eldhose Paul - Triple Jump

Tajinderpal Singh Toor - Shot Put*

Neeraj Chopra - Javelin Throw

DP Manu - Javelin Throw

Rohit Yadav - Javelin Throw

Sandeep Kumar - 10km Race Walk

Amit Khatri - 10km Race Walk

Amoj Jacob - 4x400m Relay*

Noah Nirmal Tom - 4x400m Relay

Arokia Rajiv - 4x400m Relay

Muhammed Ajmal - 4x400m Relay

Naganathan Pandi - 4x400m Relay

Rajesh Ramesh - 4x400m Relay

Women

Dhanalakshmi Sekar - 100m and 4x100m relay

Jyothi Yarraji - 100mHurdles

Aishwarya B - Long Jump and Triple Jump

Ancy Sojan - Long Jump

Manpreet Kaur - Shot Put

Navjeet Kaur Dhillon - Discus Throw*

Seema Punia - Discus Throw*

Annu Rani - Javelin Throw

Shilpa Rani - Javelin Throw

Manju Bala Singh - Hammer Throw

Sarita Romit Singh - Hammer Throw*

Bhawna Jat - 10km Race Walk*

Priyanka Goswami - 10km Race Walk

Hima Das - 4x100m relay

Dutee Chand - 4x100m relay

Srabani Nanda - 4x100m relay

MV Jilna - 4x100m relay

NS Simi - 4x100m relay