National Athletics championship from tomorrow

CHENNAI: The likes of Tintu Luka and Inderjeet Singh will be seen in action while the lesser-known athletes would aim to seal World Championship berths during the 55th National inter-state athletics championship, starting here tomorrow.

The big names of Indian athletics -- shotputter Inderjeet, Tintu, O P Jaisha and Lalita Shivaji Babar -- all of whom have already booked their berths for the upcoming championship will be vying for top honours at the four-day event at the Jawaharlal Nehru floodlight stadium.

Both Vikas Gowda and Krishna Punia, based in USA, have not entered the fray.

This tournament, which will also serve as a selection trials, is the last chance for the Indian athletes to earn a place at the World Championship, scheduled for August 22-30 in Beijing.

So far nine athletes in 20km walk (Basant Bahadur Rana, Devernder Singh, KT Irfan, Gurmeet Singh, K Ganapathy, Baljinder Singh, Chandan Singh, Manish Rawat and Sandeep Kumar) have already qualified for the prestigious event.

Sandeep Kumar and Manish Rawat have also booked their berths in 50km walk.

Tintu (800m), O P Jaisa (5000m and Marathon), Lalita Babar (Marathon and Steeplechase) and Sudha Singh (Marathon), have also made the cut.

In 100m men's event, Krishna Kumar Rane, Jyoti Sankar Debnath, M Manikanda Raj, Amiya Kumar Mallick, Manikana Aramugam, AK Gujar, Sunil Kumar, Yesu Raj, Vikas Gulia and Mohamed Baba would be vying for top three spots.