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What's the story?
In what was initially concerning news coming in from the Commonwealth Games camp, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had threatened to pull out of the upcoming Gold Coast 2018 after three athlete entries were said to have been disallowed by the organizers of the Games.
But the Athletics board has since confirmed to Sportskeeda that the Indian contingent is ready for the Games and there are no problems with regards to athlete participation.
The alleged issue had arisen after media reports suggested that the entries of three athletes were made after the stipulated date set by the organizing committee on March 7.
In case you didn't know...
The three names in question here were that of high jump athlete Siddharth Yadav, long jump athlete M Sreeshankar and 400m runner Vijayakumari GK as part of a 31-member squad selected by the AFI.
The heart of the matter
It is pertinent to note that when Sportskeeda reached out to AFI, the athletics governing body completely debunked these reports, saying that it has no intention of pulling out of the Commonwealth Games and that it was confident about the inclusions of Yadav, Sreeshankar and Vijaykumari in the final list of athletes representing the country at Gold Coast.
Furthermore, the board also confirmed that most of the Indian contingent members have already left for the Games with a few here in India, ready to make the trip soon. These will include the three athletes referenced.
What's next?
The Commonwealth Games 2018 is set to begin on April 5 and a number of Indian athletes are expected to bring home medals from Gold Coast.
Author's take
For the sake of the athletes who will represent the country, it is imperative that no questions should be raised over their participation if there is no such cause for concern.
