Indian team looks to cash on home advantage at South Asian Junior Athletics Championships

Fresh from his record-breaking spree, India’s Sharuk Khan is expected to be one of the top performers during the three-day South Asian Junior Athletics Championships beginning here Wednesday.

Khan is among 62-strong Indian team selected by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the regional competition at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Khan, who hails from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, holds the national U20 record in 3,000m steeplechase (8:42.06). He plans to further improve his performance here.

“I’m healthy. I should be able to do my best,” he said on the eve of the three-day meet.

Focus will also be on Pooja, national U20 record holder in women’s high jump. Her season and personal best of 1.83m was recorded at the just concluded World Athletics U20 Championships held in Lima, Peru.

Anurag Singh Kaler, Siddharth Choudhary (shot put) and Ritik (discus throw), medal winners at the 2024 Asian U20 Championships held earlier this year in Dubai, are looking ahead to make a good impression in the South Asian Championships.

N Ramesh, chief junior national athletics coach, is also expecting sprinters to dominate relay events.

“Indian 4x100m women’s team had set a national U20 record (45.31 seconds) at the World U20. They should be able to continue their good work here in Chennai,” he said.

Majority of the members of the Indian team had competed in the World Athletics U20 Championships.

“The competition in Chennai will be good exposure for the promising athletes on the home ground,” Ramesh said.

Sri Lanka is also fielding a strong 54-member team. Pakistan (12), Bhutan (5), Nepal (9), Bangladesh (16) and Maldives (15) are the other participating teams. All the teams have arrived here.