The Asian Athletics Association (AAA) selected seven top Indian athletes to represent Asia-Pacific Team in the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) Continental Cup to be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic from 8-9 September 2018.
Based on current IAAF world rankings, Neeraj Chopra (Javelin Throw), Muhammed Anas (400m), Jinson Johnson (800m) and Arpinder Singh (Triple Jump) made it to the AAA list of athletes for Asian-Pacific in men’s category while Hima Das (400m), PU Chitra (1500m) and Sudha Singh (3000m Steeplechase) are included in the women’s event.
In his communication to AFI, Maurice R Nicholas, AAA Secretary, said, “The excellent performances of these selected athletes are based on the top lists rankings of IAAF and our statisticians for Asia-Pacific. We are aware that results are rapidly changing in the next few days and if an athlete overtakes the performances of your selected athletes, he or she would be replaced by us. We hope that this will not happen”.
While Neeraj is currently training in Finland under national javelin coach Uwe Hohn from Germany, Anas and Hima are preparing for Asian Games in Czech Republic with other athletes shortlisted for the Asian Games under coach Galina Bukharina. Both Jinson Johnson and Sudha Singh are also in national camp and currently training in Bhutan ahead of the Asian Games.
The IAAF Continental Cup, was founded in 2010 and is contested every four years. Four-teams comprising the best athletes from Africa, Americas, Asian-Pacific and Europe will participate in the competition.
