India’s Dutee Chand waves to the crowd after her race in this file picture.
India is treating the IAAF World Championships in Doha as a ‘stepping stone’ for next year’s Olympic Games, the President of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Adille Sumariwalla said here yesterday.
The world’s second most populous country will be represented by a 27-member team at the ten-day championship which begins today.
Speaking to The Peninsula, Sumariwalla, a former Olympian, said India are hoping to better their own record of the last championship held in London but he does see the chances of India ending the 16-year-old medal drought at the championship.
“The team is confident. The whole idea is to use this championships as a stepping stone for the Olympic Games next year, so we are hoping to do better than what we did at the last championship held in London,” said Sumariwalla, who represented India at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow in the 100m sprints.
In the last edition in London in 2017, only one Indian made it to the finals while the race walkers and marathoners produced disappointing performances.
India’s last medal at the World Championships came in 2003 when Anju Bobby George’s won the long jump bronze.
But Sumariwalla is not unduly concerned and he says Indian athletics has a bright future.
“Yes, that’s true (that we have not won a medal for many years). This competition should be used more as a stepping stone, as we had the Asian Championships earlier this year in Qatar, so we did not want to spoil the Olympic cycle. We want our athletes to peak in the Olympics next year, so this is definitely a stepping stone for us,” added the Indian athletics head.
India are here in Doha without two of their brightest stars the injured Neeraj Chopra and Hima Das.
World-class javelin thrower Chopra is not taking part in the September 27 to October 6 showpiece event as he has been doing light training since May, having underwent elbow surgery. Another bright prospect, Das, trained in Europe for nearly four months, winning some low level races before pulling out due to a lower back injury after being named in the initial team.
India’s slim hopes now rest on sprinter Dutee Chand who has been training under the watchful guidance of her mentor-cum-coach N Ramesh.
“The preparation for the World Championships has been good. She has been taking part in international events since March and the crowning glory was clinching gold at the 30th Summer Universiade 2019 in Naples,” Ramesh said while speaking to The Peninsula.
IN July this year, Chand won the women’s 100m gold clocking 11.32s becoming the first Indian woman track-and-field athlete to clinch a gold medal at the World Universiade.
“We are aiming to better her personal best, hopefully everything goes according to the plan,” he added.
The 23-year-old Dutee, a silver medallist in 100m and 200m in the last Asian Games in Indonesia and a bronze medallist in 200m at the Asian Championship in Qatar, will be pushing herself to achieve her best in Qatar.
