Asian Athletics C’ships: Indian hopes rely on new javelin stars as Neeraj misses out

NEW DELHI: Young athletes Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh will be shouldering the country’s hopes in the absence of world champion and Olympic gold medalist star Neeraj Chopra in the men’s javelin throw at the Asian Athletics Championships starting from Tuesday onwards.

During the competition, the focus will also be on Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles), Parul Chaudhary (3000m steeplechase) and Abdulla Aboobacker (triple jump), who will return to defend their respective Asian titles in Gumi from May 27 to 31, as per Olympics.com.

India has announced a 61-member contingent for the competition, which will feature over 2,000 athletes from 43 nations. Neeraj will be skipping the event following his 90-m breaching performance at Doha Diamond League and second place finish at Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Poland recently.

The Indian squad will feature plenty of Olympians, Asian Games medalists and national record holders, including Avinash Sable (steeplechase), Praveen Chithravel (triple jump), Annu Rani (javelin throw) and Tejaswin Shankar (decathlon).

Yarraji will be aiming to defend her title in 100 m hurdles, she had also won the silver in the 200m in the previous edition in Bangkok. Parul Chaudhary, who smashed the national record in women’s 3000 m steeplechase, also won two medals, plus a silver in 5000 m in the previous edition.

Other notable participants include women’s javelin thrower Annu Rani, the reigning Asian Games champion, long jumpers Shaili Singh and Ancy Sojan, alongside quarter-milers Rupal Chaudhary and Vithya Ramraj. Vithya Ramraj is also a part of the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay events.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put) and Ajay Kumar Saroj (1500m) are the two Indian gold medallists from the previous edition who are missing out on the Gumi meet.

In the last edition of the competition two years back, India finished with 27 medals, including six gold, 12 silver and nine bronze. It was India’s joint-most successful campaign in terms of total medals won at the continental meet alongside Bhubaneswar 2017.

-Asian Athletics Championships 2025 schedule

*May 27, Tuesday
20km race walk men – 4:30 AM
20km race walk women – 6:30 AM
Hammer throw women – 8:30 AM
Javelin throw women – 11:10 AM
Triple jump women – 11:15 AM
10000m men – 12:40 PM
*May 28, Wednesday
Hammer throw men – 8:50 AM
Pole vault women – 1:40 PM
Triple jump men – 1:50 PM
400m men – 2:35 PM
400m women – 2:45 PM
1500m men – 2:55 PM
1500m women – 3:05 PM
10000m women – 3:15 PM
Decathlon 1500m men – 4:10 PM
4x400m mixed relay – 4:40 PM
100m women – 4:55 PM
100m men – 5:05 PM
May 29, Thursday
Shot put men – 1:35 PM
Long jump women – 2:00 PM
3000m steeplechase men – 2:05 PM
High jump men – 2:10 PM
Discus throw women – 2:15 PM
3000m steeplechase women – 2:20 PM
110m hurdles men – 2:40 PM
100m hurdles women – 2:55 PM
4x400m relay women – 3:45 PM
4x400m relay men – 4:00 PM
*May 30, Friday
Long jump men – 1:40 PM
Shot put women – 1:50 PM
High jump women – 2:00 PM
Discus throw men – 3:00 PM
5000m men – 3:10 PM
Heptathlon 800m women – 4:20 PM
May 31, Saturday
*Javelin throw women – 1:40 PM
Pole vault men – 1:45 PM
200m men – 2:00 PM
200m women – 2:10 PM
400m hurdles women – 2:20 PM
400m hurdles men – 2:30 PM
5000m women – 2:40 PM
800m women – 3:20 PM
800m men – 3:40 PM
4x100m relay women – 3:55 PM
4x100m relay men – 4:10 PM
Asian Athletics Championships 2025: India team
*Men
200m: Animesh Kujur
800m: Anu Kumar, Krishan Kumar
1500m: Yoonus Shah
3000m steeplechase: Avinash Sable
5000m: Gulveer Singh, Abhishek Pal
10,000m: Gulveer Singh, Sawan Barwal
Triple jump: Praveen Chithravel, Abdulla Aboobacker
High jump: Sarvesh Kushare
Shot put: Samardeep Singh Gill
Javelin throw: Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh
Decathlon: Tejaswin Shankar
20km race walk: Servin Sebastian, Amit
4x100m: Pranav Pramod, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidar, Amlan Borgohain, Tamilarasu, Ragul Kumar, Gurvinder Singh
4x400m: Vishal TK, Jay Kumar, Manu TS, Dharamveer Chaudhary, Rince Joseph, Tushar Kanti, Santosh Kumar, Mohit Kumar
*Women
200m: Nithya Gandhe
400m: Rupal Chaudhary, Vithya Ramraj
800m: Twinkle Chaudhary, Pooja
1500m: Lili Das, Pooja
3000m steeplechase: Parul Chaudhary, Ankita
5000m: Sanjivani Baburao, Parul Chaudhary
10000m: Sanjivani Baburao, Seema
100m hurdles: Jyothi Yarraji
400m hurdles: Vithya Ramraj, Anu R
Long jump: Shaili Singh, Ancy Sojan
High jump: Pooja
Heptathlon: Nandini Agasara
4x100m: Nithya Gandhe, Abhinaya Rajarajan, Sneha S, Srabani Nanda, Daneshwari, V Sudeeksha
4x400m: Rupal,, Subha Venkatesan, Jisna Mathew, Kunja Rajitha, Sandramol Sabu. (ANI)