After loads of good news for Indian athletics in the past few days, the same contingent has now been dealt with a 'minor' blow. Discus thrower Vika Gowda has suffered a shoulder injury and his bid to compete in Rio Olympics 2016 is now in jeopardy. Gowda's father has informed the Athletics Federation of India on the same.
The Mysore-born but US-based athlete qualified for the Summer Games when the IAAF relaxed its rules and lowered the qualifying distance to 65m from its previous criterion of 66m.
"I have spoken to Gowda's father and he said his son has suffered a minor shoulder injury. I cannot send a doctor to US and assess Gowda's injury. I have to believe in what his father says. His father says it's a minor injury and he should be fine for Olympics. I have to believe in that," said AFI President Adille Sumariwalla at a media briefing.
Gowda, who will be taking part in his fourth Olympics this year is the reigning Asian Champion and was the gold medalist in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Sumariwalla added, "He (Gowda) will have to prove his fitness sometime before the start of Olympics. It will not be a trial but he will have to prove that he is fit to take part in Olympics.Gowda will undergo some kind of throwing session from which we can know he is fit. We will get to know this from his father and the coach."
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The injury implies that the ace discus thrower cannot participate in the few legs of Diamond League scheduled in the run-up to the Games.
The men's discus throw event of Rio Olympics is scheduled on 12 August. His toughest competition is very likely to come from the two Polish throwers at the helm of the rankings - Piotr Malachowski and Robert Urbanek.
