AAFI defer Olympic team selection

“We want to send a quality team. As of now 40 athletes have qualified according to Olympic standards set by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), but we will apply our own standards and limit the team to around 25,” said AAFI president Suresh Kalmadi.

Kalmadi, also the President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), said taking part in Olympic Games this year was only to make a mark. “We will be up to the World standards in four years and have something to show at the 2004 Athens Games,” he said.

“We will be announcing the team soon after the Jakarta meet,” AAFI Secretary-General Lalit Bhanot said.

AAFI was to announce the team on Sunday with August 16 being the last date for entries set by IOA.

The Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee (SOCOG) wants the list of entries by name by August 25, while IAAF has set September 8 as the final date (14 days ahead of the start of athletics competition in Sydney) to send the entries.

However, the performance of athletes achieved before August 31 will be considered for qualification.

“We will send the names to SOCOG in time but finally prune the list by withdrawing names of those who do not pass the AAFI standards,” Bhanot said.

TEAM FOR ATF MEET: Meanwhile, the AAFI announced biggest ever squad for the Asian Track and Field Championships with 24 men and 22 women being named for the last major event before the Sydney Olympic Games.

Promising KM Binu, silver medallist at the last Junior Asian Championship, shot-putter Shakti Singh, sprinter Anil Kumar, quartermiler Paramjit Singh, distance runner Gulab Chand, KM Beenamol, thrower Neelam J Singh are among the 46-member squad bound for the Indonesian capital.

The Indian team, which will participate in 33 events out of total 43, will leave on August 25 from Bangalore.

THE TEAM:

MEN: 100m: Anil Kumar, Rajiv Balakrishnan; 200m: Anil Kumar, Ajay Raj Singh 400m: Paramjit Singh, P Ramachandran; 800m: KM Binu; 1500m: Bahadur Prasad, Gulab Chand; 5000m: Gulab Chand, N Gojen Singh; 1,000m: Gulab Chand, N Gojen Singh; 20-km walk: Gurdev Singh; Long Jump: Sanjay Kumar Rai; Discus throw: Anil Kumar, Hirdaya Nand; Javelin throw: Jagdish Bhisnoi; Hammer throw: Pramod Tiwari; Shot Put: Shakti Singh, Bahadur Singh; 4x100m relay: Anil Kumar, Rajiv Balakrishnan, CT Durai, Ajay Raj Singh, Piyush, Anand Menezes; 4x400m Relay: Paramjeet Singh, P Ramachandran, Lijo David, Jata Shankar, Manoj Lal, Anil Kumar Rohil.

Women:

100m: Rachita Mistry, Saraswati Dey; 200m: Rachita Mistry, Vineeta Tripathi; 400m: KM Beenamol, Manjuma Kuriakose; 800m: Geeta Manral, Rosa Kutty; 1500m: Geeta Manral; 5000m: Aruna Devi, Pushpa Devi; 10,000m: Aruna Devi, Pushpa Devi; 100m hurdles: Anuradha Biswal; High jump, triple jump: Bobby Aloysius; Long jump: GG Pramila, Soma Biswas; Discus throw: Neelam J Singh, Harwant Kaur; Javelin throw: Gurmeet Kaur; Hammer throw: Jabeshwari Devi, Hardeep Kaur; Shot put: Harwant Kaur; 4x100m relay: Rachita Mistry, Saraswati, Vineeta Tripathi, Anuradha Biswal, Pandeshwari V, Vijay Lakshmi; 4x400M relay: KM Beenamol, Manjuma Kuriakose, Paramjeet Kaur, Jincy Philips, Soma Biswas, Rosa Kutty; Heptathlon: Pramilla GG, Soma Biswas.