Paris Olympics qualification is going to test Indian athletes, says Anju Bobby George

Kolkata: The qualification standards for the 2024 Olympics for track and field events were announced by the World Athletics recently, leaving Indian athletes once again with the daunting task of sealing their Paris ticket. That’s because World Athletics’ ever-improving entry standards have expectedly raised the bar higher than before as it pushes most of the disciplines to breach their national records. Elite names like Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw), Avinash Sable (3000m steeplechase) among others are expected to face little difficulty in breaching the entry standards but the rest of them will have to punch above their weight with qualification window opening from 1 July, 2023.

The qualification entries for Paris 2024 Olympic Games is tough 🇫🇷

🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵 pic.twitter.com/r2dfqyWivx

— Victor K Almeida 📰 (@AlmeidaVictorK) December 20, 2022

However, 50 per cent of the quota is also reserved for qualification through the World Athletics ranking, which usually takes into consideration an athlete’s top-five performances during the qualification period. The method also takes into account the stature of competition, making the direct qualification route more comprehensible. The stiff ask of breaking India’s record for Olympic berth also stands true for women’s long jump, where the qualification standard is set at 6.86m; 0.3m above legendary Anju Bobby George’s 18-year-old national record. Read: The rise of Indian sports with Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu and others in 2022 The expectation of breaching the mark has fallen on long jump prodigy Shaili Singh, a student at George’s academy. All of 18, is it too early to keep such high expectations from her? George feels the U-20 World Championship silver medallist, whose personal best is 6.48m, can deliver. “By the time it is 2024, Shaili will be 20 years old and I think 2024 should be the year when she will break my record,” George told Firstpost. “She has the advantage of getting moulded early by Bobby (long jump coach Robert Bobby George) during her formative years and her progress is on good track, which makes me hopeful that it won’t be long before we see her better my record.” Apart from women’s long jump, a list of disciplines (in both men’s and women’s categories) will require athletes to breach unprecedented marks in Indian athletics. All sprint events (100m, 200m and hurdles) seem to be an ask too tall to breach with the exception of women’s 100m hurdle as Jyothi Yarraji's recent record-breaking spree — with a personal best of 12.82 seconds — makes her a favourite to go past the 12.77 seconds cut-off. Harmilan Bains, who competes in the middle distance races in women’s 800m and 1500m, is fresh from an injury-marred 2021 season and would be looking to improve on her 1500m national record (4:05:39 secs) by a further three seconds to qualify for Paris. George, who serves as the senior vice-president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), said it’s going to be a challenge for Indian athletes to get to the qualification mark but expects some records to tumble. “Records are meant to be broken, otherwise where’s the progress? Olympic qualification standards keep on improving and that means 2024 is going to be a challenging year for Indian athletes but they have the support system in place to achieve that. Tier 1 athletes will have little difficulty in confirming their berths but Tier 2 athletes will also push for direct qualification and any improvement will always help in improving their rankings,” said George. The long jump legend also cited examples of the recent surge of men’s lateral jumpers in the domestic circuit to show how Indian facilities are at par with international standards to allow athletes to achieve their best. Men’s long jump has been hotly-contested over the last two seasons with the likes of Murali Sreeshankar (NR at 8.36m), Jeswin Aldrin (PB of 8.26m), and Muhammad Anees (8.15m) expected to breach the qualification mark of 8.27m. [caption id=“attachment_11046211” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File photo of Eldhose Paul (left) with Abdulla Aboobacker. AP[/caption] The expectations are similar from Commonwealth Games stars Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker to go past the cut-off of 17.22m with the likes of Karthik Unnikrishnan and Praveen Chithravel are also in the fray. Also Read | How Paul, Aboobacker - two of coach Hari Krishnan's boys made history “The increase in competitive level among men’s long and triple jumpers is an indicator of how the facilities in India are on par with international level. Earlier the idea was to go hone your skills abroad but now everything you once thought is only available in foreign countries is available here as well. Whether it’s an entire coaching staff, modern and scientific training method, nutritionist, an athlete gets everything through government or private sector help,” she stated. With the standards set high, what would be the right way for an athlete to approach a season? How many competitions is one too many before the big-ticket ones roll in? George suggests peaking through competition is the right way forward. “Since Indian facilities are at par with foreign, there’s no need to go and train abroad anymore but for quality competitions, you still need to go out. It’s important to compete in quality tournaments with the purpose of knowing your rivals and not winning medals every time. Of course, an elite-level athlete like Neeraj (Chopra) will still win a medal but the rest of them should aim to know their rivals, get a feel of the conditions, and read their rivals and coaches as much as possible before utilising it at a big competition. It’s all part of the process,” said George. Read all the Latest News ****, Trending News ****, Cricket News ****, Bollywood News ****, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook****, Twitter and Instagram****.