Commonwealth Games 2018: Four members of athletics team including Neeraj Chopra depart for Gold Coast

New Delhi: To sharpen their skills further and get acclimatised to the conditions ahead of next month’s Commonwealth Games, a four-member Indian athletics team, including star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, on Wednesday, departed for Gold Coast. [caption id=“attachment_4391033” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Neeraj Chopra. Reuters[/caption] National record holder triple jumper Arpinder Singh and long jumpers Nayana James and Neena Varakil also left along with Chopra, the IAAF U20 World Champion. The Indians will camp and train at Super Sports Center in Gold Coast till 25 March before moving to the Commonwealth Games Village. Of the 31-member athletics team selected for the Commonwealth Games, Tejaswin Shankar, the Indian record holder in high jump, who is currently training in the US will join the Indian team later. Other members of the team will depart in different groups later this week, according to an Athletics Federation of India (AFI) release. “Super Sports Center in Gold Coast has an IAAF approved athletics track. The facility has other required amenities as well which will help our athletes in their training. Reaching Gold Coast in advance will help athletes acclimatised with the conditions and we hope we will have good results during the Games,” Radhakrishnan Nair, deputy chief coach of India said. Meanwhile, a 13-member athletics team departed for the Asian Cross Country Championships, scheduled to be held at Guiyang, China on 15 March. Team: Senior Men: Shankar Man Thapa, Pradeep Singh Chaudhary, Arjun Kumar, Ratiram Saini; Junior Men: Bahadur Patel, Shyam; Senior Women: Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav, Lalita Babar, Swati Haridas Gadhave, Juma Khatun; Junior Women: PoonamDinkar and Prabhjot Kaur.