National camp for 117 athletes extended till March 31

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has approved the extension of the national camp for 117 track and field athletes and their support staff until March 31, 2022.

The 117 track and field athletes in the national camp will be assisted by 45 coaching and support staff in five locations across the country. The extension of the national camp is aimed to better the athletes in preparation for Commonwealth Games and Asian Games to be held in Birmingham and Hangzhou respectively later this year.

The national camp for 64 male and 53 female athletes are taking place at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (Patiala), Laxmibai National College of Physical Education (Thiruvananthapuram), SAI National Center of Excellence (Bengaluru), Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (New Delhi) and Usha School of Athletics (Balusery).

Read: Elite athletes face problems training with faulty equipment at India's premier sports institute in Patiala

At 17 years of age, World U-20 Championships long jump silver medalist Shaili Singh is the youngest at the national camp. Seema Punia, who won her World Junior Championships discus throw bronze medal in 2002 and has been on the podium in each of the last four Commonwealth Games, is the most experienced athlete in the national camp.

Tokyo Olympic Games javelin throw gold medalist Neeraj Chopra is training in Chula Vista, United States, with coach Dr. Klaus Bartonietz.

All COVID-19 related protocols will be followed in the national camp.

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Athletes in the national camp

Men:

400m: Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Arokia Rajiv, Amoj Jacob, Noah Nirmal Tom, Naganathan Pandi, Harsh Kumar, Ayush Dabas, Vikrant Panchal, Muhammed Ajmal, Sarthak Bhambri, Kapil, Rajesh Ramesh, Karanpreet Singh and Rashid.

800m and 1500m: Manjit Singh, Ajay Kumar Saroj, Anakesh Choudhary, Krishan Kumar, Rahul, Sashi Bhushan, Abhinandan Sundaresan, Ankit and Mujmil Ameer

5000m & 10,000m: Abhishek Pal, Dharmender, Karthik Kumar and Amit Jangir

3000m Steeplechase: Avinash Sable, Shankar Lal Swami, Balakishan, Md. Nur Hassan and Atul Poonia.

400m Hurdles: Ayyasamy Dharun, MP Jabir, Santhosh Kumar, Dhaval Mahesh Utekar and Thomas Mathew.

Race Walk: Manish Singh Rawat, Sandeep Kumar, Ram Baboo, Vikas Singh, Eknath, Juned, Suraj Pawar and Amit Khatri.

Long Jump: Nirmal Sabu, Muhammed Anees, Yugant Shekhar Singh and TJ Joseph.

Triple Jump: U Karthik, Abdulla Aboobacker, Eldhose Paul and Gaily Venister Devasahayam.

Shot Put: Tejinderpal Singh Toor, Om Prakash Singh and Karanveer Singh.

Discus Throw: Abhinav, Ikram Ali Khan and Arjun Kumar.

Javelin Throw: Rohit Yadav, Sahil Silwal, Yashvir Singh, Arshdeep Singh and Abhishek Drall.

Women:

100m and 200m: Dutee Chand, S Dhanalakshmi, Hima Das, AK Daneshwari, PD Anjali, NS Simi, Kaveri Patil and Nitya Gandhe.

400m: Anjali Devi, M R Poovamma, VK Vismaya, Priya H Mohan, V Revathi, V Subha, Summy, Rachna, Nancy, R Vithya, Dandi Jyotika Sri and Jisna Mathew.

800m, 1500m and 5000m: Lili Das, PU Chitra, Chanda and Chatru Gumnaram.

5000m and 10,000m: Kavita Yadav.

Marathon: Sudha Singh.

3000m Steeplechase: Parul Chaudhary and Priti Lamba.

Race Walk: Bhawna Jat, Priyanka Goswami, Sonal Sukhwal, Ramandeep Kaur and Ravina.

Long Jump: Shaili Singh, Renu, Ancy Sojan and Pooja Saini.

Shot Put: Manpreet Kaur Sr., Abha Kathua and Kachnar Choudhary.

Discus Throw: Seema Punia, Kamalpreet Kaur, Nidhi Rani and Sunita.

Javelin Throw: Annu Rani, Kumari Sharmila and Sanjana Choudhary.

Hammer Throw: Manju Bala and Sarita R Singh.

Heptathlon: Purnima Hembram, Mareena George, Sonu Kumari and Kajal.