The Athletics Federation of India on Tuesday nominated Gurbachan Singh Randhawa and PT Usha as the chairpersons of selection committee. Sprint legend P T Usha has been given charge of the junior selection committee, while hurdling great Gurbachan Singh Randhawa will head the senior panel.

The Olympians will be joined by other prominent former athletes from the country such as Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, Krishna Poonia, Soma Biswas, Sunita Rani among others.

The 56-year-old Usha won multiple medals in the Asian Games in 100m, 200m, 400m and 4x400m besides finishing fourth in 400m hurdles in 1984 Olympics. Other members of the junior committee are Soma Biswas, Anand Menzes, Satbir Singh, Sandeep Sarkaria, Sunita Rani, Rama Chandran, Joseph Abraham, Harwant Kaur, M D Valsama and Kamal Ali Khan.

The senior selection committee, to be chaired by Randhawa, will have former chief coach Bahadur Singh, Bahadur Singh Saggu, Krishna Poonia, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, Uday Prabhu, Praveen Jolly and Gopal Saini as other members.

The 81-year-old Randhawa had won a gold in decathlon in 1962 Asian Games and finished fifth in 110m hurdles in the 1964 Olympics.

Announcing the members of selection committees, Adille J Sumariwalla, AFI President, said, “AFI is proud to have so many legendary athletes who are always willing to help the federation in all its important decisions. The role of each and every member of selection committee is very important and hence, we have included former athletes who have plenty of experience for this important role.”

The members of selection committees are-

Seniors: GS Randhawa (chairman), Bahadur Singh, Bahadur Singh Saggu, Uday Prabhu, Praveen Jolly, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, Krishna Poonia and Gopal Saini (members)

Juniors: Soma Biswas, Anand Menzes, Satbir Singh, Sandeep Sarkaria, Sunita Rani, Rama Chandran, Joseph Abraham, Harwant Kaur, MD Valsama, Kamal Ali Khan (members).

AFI President, Secretary, Chief Coach and Chairman- Planning Committee will be Ex-Officio members of the committees.

With PTI Inputs