Lengthy jumper Shaili Singh and quartermiler Priya Mohan, each under-20 World championship medallists, will skip the Khelo India Youth Video games (KIYG) at Panchkula in Haryana because the dates of the athletics occasions fall very shut to 2 main championships.
Initially scheduled in November-December final 12 months, the KIYG have been postponed thrice and can now be held from June 4 to 13 with athletics working from June 7 to 9. That’s poor scheduling!
However the dates fall between the Junior Federation Cup at Nandiad (Gujarat, June 2-4) and the Inter-State Nationals in Chennai (June 10-14), each essential occasions because the World championships (Oregon, USA), under-20 Worlds (Cali, Colombia) and the Commonwealth Video games (Birmingham, England) are lined up in July and August this 12 months.
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Shaili (silver) and Priya (4x400m combined relay bronze & fourth in particular person 400m) – each high seeds within the KIYG rankings - can be competing in each the Junior Federation Cup and the Inter-State to choose up valuable World rating factors that would fetch them berths within the senior Worlds by way of the World rankings route and therefore have determined to offer the KIYG a miss.
Priya is at the moment 56th within the ladies’s 400m within the World Athletics’ Highway to Oregon rankings and with simply 48 berths accessible for the senior Worlds, she can be going all out in her subsequent few meets to climb the rankings ladder.
Shaili, who competed in only one meet this 12 months – the current Grand Prix in Bhubaneswar the place she did 6.27m – after recovering from a again damage and COVID-19, is but to enter the Oregon rankings and thus might be determined to seize essential factors.
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And when one does three competitions in 13 days, travelling 1000's of miles from Nandiad to Panchkula after which to Chennai with none break, there's a likelihood of the athlete getting injured. So, the 2 younger stars have determined to play it secure.
“It’s fairly disappointing and we're unhappy about it. We will’t take any threat on this essential 12 months,” Robert Bobby George, Shaili’s coach, instructed Sportstar from Bengaluru.
“No. Can’t do (KIYG)...dates are clashing. The inter-State is the ultimate qualification for the senior Worlds,” stated Priya’s coach Arjun Ajay.
By the way, each Priya and Shaili have already certified for the Junior Worlds.