Tejaswin Shankar finally makes it to the CWG squad
The high jumper has been included in the squad for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, replacing 4X400m relay runner Rajiv Arokia, who has been "disqualified"
A fortnight after he took the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to court, high jumper Tejaswin Shankar has been included in India's 36-member athletics squad for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. AFI informed the Delhi high court on Wednesday that he will replace 4X400m relay runner Rajiv Arokia, who has been "disqualified".
The US-based Shankar petitioned the court after being excluded from the initial squad despite clearing 2.27m, the qualifying mark set by AFI. The federation initially told the court it would forward his name to the Indian Olympic Association as it had already met the number of entries allowed.
After AFI informed the court of Shankar’s inclusion, it directed IOA to inform the “CWG authority”—Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF)—of Shankar's inclusion.
“AFI made a statement that Arokia Rajiv has been disqualified and Shankar has been included in the 36-team contingent. Court has directed AFI to send the same forthwith to IOA and IOA has been directed to immediately reach out to CWG authority and intimate about Tejaswin's inclusion,” his lawyer Malak Bhatt said.
The 24-year-old jumper is based in Kansas, USA and studying at the Kansas University. He met AFI’s qualifying mark by clearing that height to win the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene last month. The AFI selection committee excluded him on the ground that he had not sought exemption to skip the inter-state meet in Chennai last month, designated as a qualifying event unless an exemption had been sought and given. Shankar, in his court petition, denied he had not sought exemption, submitting that he had communicated it to the chief coach.
“We have requested IOA to replace Rajiv Arokia, who withdrew from the inter-state championships due to illness, with Shankar,” AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said. “We continue to request IOA to increase the quota for athletics so that others who have met the qualifying standards can also compete in CWG.”
Arokia, originally named in the CWG squad as a reserve subject to the injured Amoj Jacob's availability, ran in a world championships selection trial in Thiruvananthapuram this week, but only clocked 47.89secs, way below his best (45.37s), and season’s best (46.01s). The 31-year-old is learnt to have told AFI that he is not fit to run in a second trial, to be held in Patiala on Friday.
Jacob, India’s fastest 400m runner this year, injured his hamstring at the inter-state meet. He has already pulled out of the worlds and is in a race to regain fitness for the CWG, starting on July 28. That means the six-man relay squad of Jacob, Arokia, Noah Nirmal Tom, Muhammed Ajmal, Naganathan Pandi and Rajesh Ramesh could be reduced to just four.
The last date for sending the CGF squad was June 29. It is up to the organisers to accept late changes. Tejaswin's selection won’t end the case as the court has posted the next hearing for August 25.
Bhatt said: “The court has now kept the matter for 25 Aug for considering the issues which were raised by us regarding the discrepancies in AFI's selection process. Court said these issues will need to be sorted once and for all so that there is no national embarrassment in future.”
Sumariwalla had said earlier that since Shankar had been competing mainly in decathlon, his solitary jump of 2.27m didn't count for much.