HANGZHOU: India's athletics team, which has grown in stature over the years following a string of world-class performances from Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra and champion heptathlete Swapna Barman - the defending champion here - will begin its seven-day Asian Games campaign here on Thursday.
Joining the two to defend their titles from Jakarta will be Jinson Johnson (men's 1500m) and Tajinderpal Singh Toor (men's shot put). The mixed relay team will also be out to retain their gold from the 18th Asian Games. "I'm in much better shape now as I've regained fitness. My aim is to bag the gold and defend the title," Toor, who skipped the World Championships to focus on Asiad, told TOI after a training session.
Jyothi aims for double
Women's 100m hurdles national record holder Jyothi Yarraji also said that she is in good shape heading into the Games. "In 200m, I have quite a few rivals, not just Singapore's Veronica Shanti Pereira and Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser. It's going to be tough in both the finals but I'm ready. I love to compete against strong rivals."
The focus will be more on the women as the squad has a good number of potential medallists. Joining Jyothi in the hunt for a gold medal are Asian silver medallist Shaili Singh, rising hurdler Vithya Ramraj and steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary.
Besides all the relay teams who start with good medal prospects, the focus will be on the jumpers - both in long jump and triple jump.
