Neeraj, Hima to take part in prestigious Continental Cup

Seven Indian athletes, including star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and sprint sensation Hima Das, are set to compete in the prestigious IAAF Continental Cup to be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic on September 8-9.

The Asian Athletics Association (AAA) selected seven top Indian athletes to represent Asia-Pacific Team in the International Association of Athletics Federation Continental Cup, an event competed among the season’s top rankers from the regional associations.

Based on current IAAF world rankings, Neeraj (javelin), Muhammed Anas (400m), Jinson Johnson (800m) and Arpinder Singh (triple jump) made it to the AAA list of athletes for Asian-Pacific in men’s category while Hima Das (400m), P U Chitra (1500m) and Sudha Singh (3000m Steeplechase) were included in the women’s event.

In his communication to the Athletics Federation of India, AAA Secretary Maurice R Nicholas said, “The excellent performances of these selected athletes are based on the top lists rankings of IAAF and our statisticians for Asia-Pacific.

“We are aware that results are rapidly changing in the next few days and if an athlete overtakes the performances of your selected athletes, he or she would be replaced by us. We hope that this will not happen.”

While Neeraj is currently training in Finland under national javelin coach Uwe Hohn from Germany, Anas and Hima are preparing for next month’s Asian Games in Czech Republic with other athletes under Galina Bukharina. Both Jinson Johnson and Sudha Singh are also in the national camp and currently training in Bhutan ahead of the Asian Games.

The IAAF Continental Cup was founded in 2010 and is contested every four years. Four teams, comprising the best athletes from Africa, Americas, Asian-Pacific and Europe, participate in the competition.