Around 15 Indians in contention for World Athletics Cships, AFI selection meeting on Aug 28

new delhi: from a high of 28 indians taking part in the 2023 world championships in hungary, where star javelin thrower neeraj chopra won gold, barely 15 athletes from the country are likely to feature in the showpiece in tokyo next month.with india not expected to qualify for relay races, the number of participants has reduced significantly. in 2023, india had named seven quarter-milers for the men's 4x400m relay; the quartet smashed the asian record and reached its maiden final, finishing fifth.at least three indians are likely to compete in the men's javelin throw event in tokyo, possibly four if rohit yadav, who won gold at the national inter-state championships in chennai, improves his world ranking.besides chopra, who has a wild card as the defending champion, sachin yadav and yashvir singh are in the 36-athlete bracket as of sunday, the qualification deadline. chopra also breached the automatic qualification mark of 85.50m.the world athletics “road to tokyo” list will clarify entries on august 27. athletes can qualify automatically by meeting the mark, with remaining slots filled via world ranking quota.besides chopra, only parul chaudhary (women's 3000m steeplechase), gulveer singh (men's 5000m), and praveen chithravel (men's triple jump) have breached the automatic mark. avinash sable, despite qualifying, is out due to injury.athletes in contention via world ranking include annu rani (women's javelin), priyanka goswami (women's 35km race walk), animesh kujur (men's 200m), abdulla aboobacker (men's triple jump), servin sebastian and akshdeep singh (men's 20km race walk), ram baboo (men's 35km race walk), and rohit, sachin, yashvir (men's javelin).other notable absentees include murali sreeshankar, who fell short of the 8.27m mark, and heptathlete nandini agasara, recovering from an elbow injury.the athletics federation of india (afi) selection committee will meet on august 28 to pick the team.