National Open Athletics Championships: All eyes on Assam sprinter Amlan Borgohain

Assam’s star sprinter Amlan Borgohain will be the biggest draw at the 61st National Open Athletics Championships that will get underway at Bengaluru’s Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday.

However, in the men's and women’s 400m events, top athletes, including Amoj Jacob, will skip the competition. Commonwealth Games silver medalist Avinash Sable is also skipping the domestic event as he will compete at the Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday.

Borgohain will be representing Railways in the 100m and is the favorite to win the title in the last domestic competition of the season. Odisha's national record holder Amiya Kumar Mallick is among the 50 athletes in the men’s 100m.

Since Arokia Rajiv, Mohd Anas, and Jacob are missing from the men’s 400m entry list, the focus will be on Rajesh Ramesh, Ayush Dabas, and Vikrant Panchal. As many as 34 athletes will compete for a podium finish in the men’s 400m.

In the women’s 400m, World U20 medalist Rupal Chaudhary and Priya Mohan will skip the Bengaluru competition. Aishwarya Mishra from Maharashtra, who has a season-best time of 51.38 seconds, will be the one to watch.

Other aspects of National Open Athletics Championships

In recent domestic competitions, the men’s long jumpers and triple jumpers have gained the spotlight. However, Olympian and national record holder Murali Sreeshankar will skip the National Open Athletics Championships.

The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games men’s triple jump champion Eldhose Paul too hasn’t sent his entry.

In the men’s group, two departmental teams - Railways and Services are the main contestants. Railways will be the favorite to win the women’s team title.

Interestingly, for the first time, Services will have representation in the women’s competition, with 400m runner Summy joining the Army recently. Among the State and Union Territories, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are fielding the biggest contingents with 87 and 80 athletes respectively. Assam and Ladakh will have the smallest teams with two athletes each.

As many as 868 athletes from 31 teams, including four institutions, will vie for honors in the five-day National Open Athletics Championships. Being the only team with more than 100 athletes, Railways has the largest number of entries. With a 50-strong women’s squad, the most for any team, Railways has a total of 103 entries.