Athletes nominated in TOPs scheme, fail to find a place in Asian Athletics championships

NEW DELHI: Just a couple of days ago, the dope-tainted athletes like Ashwini Akkunji, Mandeep Kaur figured in government's lucrative TOPS scheme list, but none of these relay quarter-milers could find a place in 47-member team for the Asian Athletics championships in Wuhan, China.

While questions are still being asked about how Athletics Federation India ( AFI) could recommend these names for TOPs scheme, the Federation COO Manish Kumar said that these five athletes (Sini Jose, Priyanka Panwar, Jauna Murmu, besides Akkunji and Mandeep) are the best prospects for India going into the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Most of these athletes who are in the lucrative TOPs scheme, have not competed in the year 2015 with Sini Jose being out of competition since 2011.

"These are the best athletes that we have got going into Rio Olympics. Ashwini (Akkunji) is a double gold medallist at Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. But we are aiming at creating a pool and that's why a new set of athletes are being sent. For relay, we need to create a pool of 17-18 athletes," Kumar said today.

India's 4x400m women's quartet will be led by seasoned MR Poovamma along with Tintu Luka, Debashree Mazumdar, Jisna Mathew, Anju Thomas being the other members.

But Kumar said that PT Usha's disciple Jisna Mathew, who has come up very well in last 6-7 months, might be included in the TOPs scheme in near future.

Controversial Ukrainian coach Yuri Ogordnik, who was in charge of the dope tainted relay team, is not travelling with the squad for this championship but details about his status can only be briefed by AFI president.