Athletes' victorious performances in IGP 5 allows them to qualify for Asian Games

Shot putter Abha Khatua, 1500m runners Jinson Johnson, Kishore Jena and five other athletes all delivered stellar performances in Indian Grand Prix-5 to push for a berth in the Asian Games Indian contingent.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has already drafted its contingent of athletes to take part in the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. However, there is room for an addition to the roster if the athlete breaches the qualification criteria.

AFI is looking to add 15 more track and field athletes to the 65 already drafted for the upcoming tournament. However, athletes whose names had been previously sent to the Asian Games organisers in the provisional entry list are only considered for qualification.

Abha Khatua managed to fling the shot put 18.02m away from the circle, which was a mere 4 cms short of the national record. Her success at the IGP 5 event in Chandigarh puts her in the running for a berth in the track and field contingent for the Asian Games. The revised list of athletes will be released on Monday, after IGP 5 finishes.

Apart from Khatua, seven other athletes managed to throw in their hats for the Asian Games qualification by meeting the required criteria.

Jinson Johnson delivered his season best of 3:39.32 seconds in 1500m and Kishore Jena secured the gold medal in men's javelin throw with three terrific throws of 82.54m, 80.74m and 81.56m.

Both athletes breached the qualification yardstick and are looking good to secure medals in the continental event.

Several other athletes delivered determined and successful performances. In the men's 100m final, Harjit Singh (10.55 seconds) beat Amlan Borgohain (10.57 seconds) to emerge victorious with the gold medal. However, the Asian Games qualification benchmark was set at 10.19s.

Vithya Ramraj won the women's 400m final with a personal best of 52.40s, which sets her on the path of qualifying for the Asian Games. Amoj Jacob clocked 45.92 seconds to win the 400m event.