The Asian Athletics Association (AAA) on Saturday named seven Indian athletes including star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and sprint sensation Hima Das to represent Asia-Pacific Team in the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) Continental Cup to be held in Czech Republic’s Ostrava on September 8-9.
Based on current IAAF world rankings, Chopra (Javelin), Muhammed Anas (400m), Jinson Johnson (800m) and Arpinder Singh (Triple Jump) made it to the AAA list of athletes for Asian-Pacific in men’s category while Hima (400m), P.U.Chitra (1500m) and Sudha Singh (3000m Steeplechase) are included in the women’s event.
In his communication to the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), Maurice R Nicholas, AAA Secretary, said: “The excellent performances of these selected athletes are based on the top lists rankings of IAAF and our statisticians for Asia-Pacific.”
“We are aware that results are rapidly changing in the next few days and if an athlete overtakes the performances of your selected athletes, he or she would be replaced by us. We hope that this will not happen,” he added.
While Chopra is currently training in Finland under national javelin coach UweHohn from Germany, Anas and Hima are preparing for Asian Games in Czech Republic with other athletes shortlisted for the Asian Games under coach Galina Bukharina.
Both Jinson and Sudha are also in national camp and currently training in Bhutan ahead of the Asian Games.
The IAAF Continental Cup, was founded in 2010 and is contested every four years. Four-teams comprising best athletes from Africa, Americas, Asian-Pacific and Europe will participate in the competition.