Indian athletics team to have short camp at University of Tsukuba in Japan ahead of Asian Games

New Delhi: The Indian athletics team will undergo a short acclimatisation camp at the University of Tsukuba near Tokyo ahead of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in Japan in September-October.

In June this year, the Sports Authority of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Tsukuba to facilitate participation of Indian athletes, coaches, and sports scientists in specialised training and exchange programmes in Japan.

Tsukuba is around 80kms from Tokyo and 420km from Nagoya where the track and field events will be held from September 23 to 29.


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The national team will leave for Japan after competing in the invitational Indian Athletics Final Series in New Delhi on September 10.

"The team will leave for Japan either on September 12 or 13 and will train at the University of Tsukuba to acclimatise to the conditions," a top Athletics Federation of India (AFI) official told PTI.

Meanwhile, the Asian Games-bound Indian athletes, who were training at Jablonec in Czech Republic, are returning home in a day or two to have another short training stint at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar where the Indian Open World Athletics Silver Level Continental Tour event will be held on August 22.

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A host of top Indian athletes are set to take part in the one-day event in Bhubaneswar, including the likes of Commonwealth Games medallist long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, women's national record holder long jumper Ancy Sojan, ace 100m hurdles runner Jyothi Yarraji, top sprinters Gurindervir Singh and Animesh Kujur as well as javelin thrower Kishore Jena.

Two-time Olympic medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is not expected to feature in Bhubaneswar as he is competing at the Lausanne Diamond League on August 21.

AFI has sent Asian Games team list to IOA

An AFI official said that the federation has sent the Asian Games team to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as soon as the National Inter-State Championships ended in Bhubaneswar on June 28. The team picked by the AFI is more than 68 who represented the country in the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in 2023.

"We have sent the Asian Games team to the IOA on the night of June 28 itself, just after the end of events at the National Inter-State Championships," the official said.

"We have picked more than 72 athletes. We have done our part of job."