CHENNAI: ATHLETES from across the country have come here hoping to grab a final chance to qualify for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo next month. The tension in the track and field area in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here is building, with athletes ensuring their preparations are on point. The qualification period for the blue-riband event ends on August 24, the day this meet concludes.

Only a handful of athletes including Neeraj Chopra (men’s javelin) have qualified for the biennial meet but Avinash Sable (men’s steeplechase) is already out of the season with an ACL issue. Some of the others to have met the mark via meeting the entry standards are Parul Chaudhary (women’s steeplechase) and Praveen Chitravel (men’s triple jump). It’s possible that number can swell as athletes can also make it via ranking. In the previous edition in Hungary, India had sent a 27-member contingent. That number threatens to be lower, as this time, the relay team will not be sent due to injuries to main runners.

“Amoj (Jacob) is back from his injury, Vishal TK is good, Rajesh (Ramesh) is also back but does not have the style he had in Budapest,” Athletics Federation of India (AFI) chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair told reporters on Tuesday. “This has restricted the contingent to 15-17, but we still believe we may have 20 athletes,” he added.