Hyderabad: Lucknow is all set to host the National Inter-State championships from August 27 which is the Athletics Federation of India's (AFI) qualification event for the world championships.
But surprisingly, many of the track and field stars including star sprinters are staying away from the event which would have offered a fine chance for these athletes to show where they stand with the Doha Worlds about a month away.
According to Radhakrishnan Nair, the deputy chief coach on Tuesday, seven men and six women quatermilers including Muhammed Anas, M. P. Jabir, A. Dharun, Hima Das, V.K. Vismaya and M.R. Poovamma will not be participating in the event along with Javelin throwers Shivpal Singh and Annu Rani who have already qualified for the Worlds, while Vipin Kasana is also close to qualifying for the Worlds.
The coach further said that AFI is arranging a competition for these quatermilers at Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic on August 24 where the results of these sprinters will be compared with the sprinters of the Lucknow event and athletes will be selected for the World relay team. The selection committee may even send back someone from the bunch in the Czech republic and add from the Inter-State if the performances are bad and good respectively.
The men, women and mixed relay teams will almost be finalised by September 6, and Radhakrishnan is almost sure that all the 4x400m mile relay teams will be among the 16 teams that make it to the Worlds.
