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Indian track and field athletes were recently in action during the Indian Grand Prix 4 in Patiala, where shotputter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a sensational performance. However, many athletes, who were supposed to make the cut, failed to do so.
With only a month left for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Indian athletes who are yet to secure their Olympic berths will get one last opportunity to do at the National and Inter-State Athletics Championships. The event will be staged at the Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports in Patiala from June 25-29.
On that note, let's have a look at a few such athletes and teams who can still qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics:
Annu Rani (Women's Javelin Throw)
Javelin thrower Annu Rani was also eyeing an Olympic qualification at the recently concluded Indian Grand Prix 4 in Patiala. However, she failed to better her national record of 62.43m, registering only a paltry 60.58m. Even though she claimed the gold medal at the meet, it was far from the qualification distance of 64.00m.
Annu Rani is currently ranked 13th in the world, which gives her an outside chance of making it to the mega-event before the final list of qualified athletes are published on June 29. A total of 32 javelin throwers will compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Dutee Chand, Hima Das, Dhanalakshmi and Archana Suseentran - Women’s 4*100m
The Indian women’s 4*100 relay team would consider themselves unfortunate not to compete in the world relays in Poland earlier this year owing to travel restrictions.
Dutee Chand, Hima Das, Dhanalakshmi and Archana Suseentran recently scripted a new national record at the Indian Grand Prix 4, clocking 43.37 seconds, breaking the old one of 43.42 seconds.
That saw the Indian team improve their ranking by two places to 20th spot. Hima Das and co need to go below 43.05 seconds to be among the top 16 teams in the world and qualify for the Tokyo Games.
Hima Das (Women's 200 metres)
It was expected that Hima Das would make it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with two qualifying events left. Her outing at the Indian Grand Prix 4 was impressive, as she clocked 22.88 seconds in the women’s 400 metres event to finish at the top of the podium. However, she missed the Olympic qualification mark by 0.08 seconds, which is 22.80 seconds for this particular category.
In fact, she has shown vast improvement from her run at the 2021 Federation Cup earlier this year, where she completed the 200 metres in 23.21 seconds. With the ‘Dhing Express’ stating that she is confident of making it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she could confirm her Olympic berth in Patiala on June 29.
Dutee Chand (Women's 100 metres)
Dutee Chand, the national record holder in the women’s 100 metres sprint, improved her best timing to 11.17 seconds in the recently concluded Indian Grand Prix 4. But she missed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualification mark of 11.15 seconds by 0.02 seconds.
The National and Inter-State Athletics Championships will provide her with the last opportunity to make the cut. Her appearance at the 2016 Rio Olympics was only the fifth time an Indian featured in the women’s 100 metres event at the Games.
Even if Chand fails to breach the qualification mark in Patiala, she will have a chance of securing a berth for next month’s mega event by virtue of her rankings. As per the current World Athletics rankings, the Indian occupies the 47th spot among 56 entrants slated to appear in Tokyo. However, it would be safer for her to attain the qualification mark rather than hope to qualify by dint of her ranking.
Harmilan Bains (Women's 1500m)
The middle-distance runner is also in contention for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Harmilan Bains clocked 4:08.70 seconds at the Federation Cup earlier this year and followed that up with 4:08:27 seconds at the Indian Grand Prix 4. The Punjab-based athlete will be gearing up to breach the Olympic qualification mark of 4:04:20 seconds in the upcoming Inter-State Athletics Championships.
Also Read: National Inter-State Athletics Championships: Where to watch, schedule, live streaming details.
Seema Punia (Women's Discus Throw)
Surprisingly, veteran discus thrower Seema Punia was missing from the final list in the Indian Grand Prix 4. Having already participated in the 2004, 2012 and 2016 Olympics, she was supposed to make her fourth appearance at the Games.
The Commonwealth Games medallist registered a best throw of 62.64 metres this year during the Federation Cup. Punia will get her last shot at qualification in the upcoming meet, where she will need to breach the 63.50 metres mark to book her berth.
Karthik Unnikrishnan (Men's Triple Jump)
Even if his chances are slim, triple-jumper Karthik Unnikrishnan can still qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The athlete jumped a distance of 16.73 metres at the 2021 Federation Cup earlier this year. With the Olympic qualification mark set at 17.14 metres, Unnikrishnan's jump of 16.21 metres at the Indian Grand Prix 4 was disappointing, to say the least.
He will look to improve that in the upcoming meet and try to breach the qualification mark. For that to happen, he will need to better his personal best of 16.80 metres, though.
