Indian Grand Prix 4: Start lists released of the penultimate qualifying tournament for Indian Track and Field athletes

The Athletics Federation of India just came up with the entry and rejected lists of athletes for the Indian Grand Prix 4 that is slated to take place on 21st June in Patiala, Punjab.

The Indian Grand Prix 4 meeting was arranged by the federation after foreign tours of some elite Indian athletes were not granted permission because of COVID-19 protocols in those countries.

The Indian Grand Prix 4 meeting will provide some elite Indian athletes with the perfect opportunity to have a crack at the direct Olympic qualification mark with the entry deadline date for the athletics divisions coming ever closer (29 June, 2020).

Indian athletes with a strong chance to qualify from the Indian Grand Prix 4

Quite a few big names of Indian athletics have registered their names in the entry lists of Indian Grand Prix 4. Hima Das, Dutee Chand and Archana Suseendran will go head-to-head at the 200-meter event for women. Dutee has registered herself for the 100m event as well.

The likes of Kamalpreet Kaur (discus throw) and Murali Sreeshankar (long jump), who have already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020, have also registered for the Indian Grand Prix 4 to get into competition mode.

The Indian national record holder in the women's javelin category, Annu Rani, has her current qualification position marked at 19th (out of 32 hopefuls). She has made the list and will definitely like to use the opportunity to consolidate her spot on the qualification position list at the Indian Grand Prix 4.

TajinderPal Singh Toor will look to achieve the automatic qualification mark of 21.10 meters at the Indian Grand Prix 4 as he currently sits in the dangerous 31st spot (out of 32 hopefuls) and can be dislodged from his position if only two athletes achieve the aforementioned direct qualifying mark.

The other big names who have registered their names for the Indian Grand Prix 4 meeting are Arokia Rajiv in 400m for men, M.P. Jabir in the 400m hurdles, Karthik U in the triple jump category for men, Harmilan Bains & P.U. Chitra in 1500m for women and Sudha Singh in 5000m for women.

The men's 4X400-meter relay team will also look to improve their timing of 3:02.59 as it currently places them in 15th position out of the 16 spots available. The women's 4X100-meter relay team, which is currently placed 22nd, will also be trying to sneak into the top 16 spots available for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. However, it looks highly unlikely at this point as they need to come below 43.05 seconds while their best record in this timeline is 43.81 seconds.

Big names missing from Indian Grand Prix 4

The entry list for Indian Grand Prix 4 didn't have any space for the national record holder in the men's 400m - Mohammad Anas. Amoj Jacob also didn't register for the individual 400m event. However, one can expect them to feature in the relay teams.

Already qualified athletes Shivpal Singh (Javelin Throw) and Avinash Sable (3000m Steeplechase) also haven't registered for the Indian Grand Prix 4.

Arpinder Singh (men's triple jump) is missing from the start lists released by the Athletics Federation of India. National record holders in the 1500m and 400m hurdles for men, Jinson Johnson and Ayyasamy Dharun (respectively), also find their names missing from the starting lists for the Indian Grand Prix 4.

Another big name missing from the list is Seema Punia (discus throw). Seema had a great start to the 2021 season when she threw the 1kg discus to a distance of 62.64 meters at the Federation Cup 2021.

The Indian Grand Prix 4 offers the perfect opportunity for Indian athletes to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. All the elite Indian athletes would like to seal their spot for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in this penultimate event. Their only other option post this event would be the Interstate Athletics Championships.