New Delhi: Indian Olympic gold medalist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Thursday urged Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar to resolve the visa issues of athlete Kishore Jena to enable him to take part in the World Athletics Championships, which will be held in Budapest, Hungary this year.
The top athletics event will be held in Hungary from August 19 to 27. "Just heard that there are issues with Kishore Jena’s VISA, preventing him from entering Hungary for the World C’ships. I hope the authorities are able to find a solution, as this is one of the biggest moments of his career. Let’s do everything we can. @MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar," tweeted Neeraj.
Jena is a promising javelin thrower, who is currently placed at No.33 in the world rankings. His personal best throw is 84.38 m on July 28, 2023, in Sri Lanka at the 101st Sri Lankan Championships, which helped him clinch the gold medal. India has named a 28-member strong contingent for the World Athletics Championships, led by Olympic gold medalist Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who ended the country's long wait of 19 years for a medal at the championships with a silver in men's javelin event.
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and steeplechaser Avinash Sable will also be in action at the championships. Shot-putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor had to withdraw due to a groin injury sustained at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok last month. He threw 20.23 m to secure a gold but ended up injuring himself. This will be the second successive World Championships Tajinder will miss due to injury, having previously withdrawn from the 2022 Championships in Eugene due to a groin injury.
Tejaswin will however focus on Asian Games 2023, which will be held from Hangzhou, China from September 23 to October 8. Asian shot-put champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Commonwealth Games medalist high jumper Tejaswin Shankar will skip the upcoming World Athletics Championships.
28 Athletes who will be competing at the event are; Jyothi Yarraji - 1OOm Hurdles – TOPS Athlete, Parul Chaudhary - 3000m SC, Shaili Singh - Long Jump – TOPS Athlete, Annu Rani - Javelin Throw – TOPS Athlete, Bhawna Jat - Race Walk, Krishan Kumar - 800m, Ajay Kumar Saroj -1500m, Santhosh Kumar Tamilarnsan - 400m Hurdles, Avinash Mukund Sable - 3000m SC – TOPS Athlete, Sarvesh Anil Kushare - High Jump, Jeswin Aldrin -Long Jump – TOPS Athlete, M Sreeshankar - Long Jump – TOPS Athlete, Praveen Chithravel - Triple Jump – TOPS Athlete, Abdulla Aboobacker - Triple Jump – TOPS Athlete, Eldhose Paul - Triple Jump – TOPS Athlete, Neeraj Chopra - Javelin Throw – TOPS Athlete, D.P Manu - Javelin Throw – TOPS Athlete, Kishore Kumar Jena - Javelin Throw, Akashdeep Singh - Race Walk - TOPS Athlete, Vikash Singh - Race Walk, Paramjeet Singh - Race Walk - TOPS Athlete, Ram Baboo – Race Walk, Amoj Jacob – 4 x 400m Relay, Muhammed Ajmal - 4 x 400m Relay, Muhammed Anas - 4 x 400m Relay, Rajesh Ramesh - 4 x 400m Relay, Anil Rajalingam - 4 x 400m Relay and Mijo Chacko Kurian - 4 x 400m Relay. (ANI)
