Star athletes Amlan and Jyoti will be seen in the National Open Athletics Championship
Top athletes will not take part in the final National Open Championship of the season starting here on Saturday but Amlan Borgohain and Jyoti Yaraji are among the few star players to take part. Sprinter Borgohain will represent the army and 100m hurdles athlete Jyoti will compete for railways. Both had won two gold medals during the recently concluded National Games in Gujarat. The expectations of a similar performance will be weighing on him in the five-day competition. Borgohain will compete in the 100m and 200m while Jyoti will compete in the 100m hurdles in addition to her favorite event in the 100m hurdles.
Jyoti holds a national record in 100 meters hurdles. Top long jump athletes M Sreeshakar, Jesswin Aldrin and Mohd Anees Yahia and the tri-jump trio of Aldos Paul, Abdullah Abubakar and Praveen Chitravel have also decided not to compete. Sreeshankar had injured himself while winning the silver medal at the National Games, while Aldrin won the gold medal. Tokyo Olympics javelin throw gold medalist Neeraj Chopra and Commonwealth Games 3000m steeplechase silver medalist Avinash Sable are not in the entry list.
Now shot putter Tejinderpal Singh, who missed the World Championships in July due to injury and is making a comeback, has a chance to shine. 868 players from 31 teams (including institutes) will have a chance to win medals in the tournament. Railways is the only team in which more than 100 players will participate.