The IAAF World Athletics Championships is all set to begin on Friday in London. While all eyes are on what will be the fastest man on earth Usain Bolt's last appearance on the track, India, with its meager medal hopes, has fielded a 25-member contingent.
India's record at the World Championships has been dismal—it has only one bronze won by Anju Bobby George in the 2003 edition in long jump event to proudly display. While the target for most athletes is to better their national record, qualify for finals or improve on the record recently set in the Asian Athletics Champion in Bhubaneshwar—with an eye on the Common Wealth Games and Asian Games in 2018—India's hopes rest mostly with three to four athletes, with the World Junior Champion in javelin throw Neeraj Chopra being the prime hope.
Neeraj Chopra
He is just 19 and he carries the burden of a billion hopes on his young shoulders. He is also the Junior World champion who set the world record in Poland in July last year at the IAAF Junior World Championship. This was 86.48m and he will need to better this record or season's best of 85.63m to make it to the finals. His competition is slated for August 10.
He has prepared for the event without an individual specialist foreign coach.
His build up has been good. He participated in two IAAF Diamond League events this year and finished fifth and seventh. He trained in Stuttgart Germany for ten days, thanks to his sponsors JSW Sports. A physiotherapist, Ishaan Marwah, has also been provided to him. In his event, prime medal contenders Johannes Vetter and Thomas Rohler–from Germany—have recorded over 93m throw this year.
Dutee Chand
India's leading sprinter has had to deal with uncertainties yet again before joining rest of the squad in London. Getting a last minute reprieve from Court of Arbitration for Sports, which stayed the existing Hyperandrogenism policy of the International federation for two more months, Dutee was invited by the IAAF to participate in the World Championships in London despite narrowly missing the 100m qualification mark in the 100m women's event in Bhubaneshwar. She has a season best of 11.30 seconds while the qualification mark was 11.26 seconds. The IAAF fell short of the requisite 56 entries for the event and Dutee made it to the list. She had trained at her base in Hyderabad post the Asian Athletics Championships in her home state Odisha.
Swapna Barman
She is 12 toed. In her comeback year, Barman won the gold in heptathlon with a total of 5,942 points in the Asian Athletics Champions in Bhubaneshwar. The 21-year-old heptathlete from Jalpaiguri inWest Bengal is being considered as a serious podium hopeful in 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. The World Championships is being treated as exposure for the talented athlete. She suffered a setback due to injuries in last two years, but is on her way back.
The 12 toes make it difficult for her athletic career but dealing with hardships is nothing new for her. She hails from a humble background and making both ends meet is a bigger challenge. Getting customised shoes is a faraway dream when just having a decent regular pair to train is a luxury.
