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The Times of India
The Times of India
Sport
Sabi Hussain | TNN

Mirabai, Bajrang, Lakshya among top athletes for National Games

NEW DELHI: Birmingham CWG gold medal-winning troika of weightlifters Mirabai Chanu, Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Achinta Sheuli, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Bajrang Punia and members of the champion Thomas Cup badminton team, Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and Chirag Shetty, will be among a host of India international athletes who will be competing at the National Games Gujarat 2022 from September 27 to October 10.

According to a list in possession of TOI, several of the country's leading athletes - including Tokyo Olympics and Birmingham CWG medallists - have confirmed participation for the 36th edition of the Games, scheduled to take place in cities of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar. Earlier this week, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had issued a diktat to the country's "eminent" athletes to have mandatory participation at the Games.

Among the other prominent athletes, who have consented to participate include veteran paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal, who finished his career's fifth CWG appearance with three gold and one silver in Birmingham, Avinash Sable, who became the first non-Kenyan to win a medal - a silver - in the men's 3000m steeplechase event at the CWG, Eldhose Paul, who clinched India's first gold in the men's triple jump event at the CWG and Birmingham silver medallist long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, among others.

Talking to TOI, Sharath Kamal hoped that the Games would become a regular affair in the Indian sporting calendar with no more delays in the future. "I have personally played in the event only in Ranchi in 2011. So, I'll be coming to the Games after a gap of 12 long years. I hope it's been organised periodically and more regularly to help athletes prepare for the Games well in advance."

"I also believe that it should act as a selection criteria for picking teams for major tournaments, like some kind of importance be given to it that way. The Games will then become a marquee event for all the athletes," he added.

Sreeshankar, on his part, stated that the Games will help in the all-round development of sports in the country being a multi-sport event. "The Games are really important in an athlete's life and one should participate in it. Last time it happened in my home state of Kerala. I still have some memorable memories from that event. It's returning after a gap of seven years, so hopefully I'll give a good performance for my state," he added.

List of athletes: Manika Batra and Achanta Sharath Kamal (TT), Bajrang Punia (wrestling), Mirabai Chanu, Jeremy and Achinta Sheuli (weightlifting), Avinash Sable (steeplechase), Eldhose Paul (triple jump), Murali Sreeshankar (long jump), Lakshya Sen, H S Prannoy and Chirag Shetty (badminton), Atanu Das and Praveen Jadhav (archery), Manu Bhaker and Shiva Narwal (shooting), Srihari Natraj (swimming), Jaismine Lamboria and Mohammed Hussamuddin (boxing)

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