Birmingham 2022: Five Indian medal hopes in athletics at Commonwealth Games

Bengaluru, August 1: The track and field events of Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham begins on Tuesday (August 2) and despite the absence of javelin throw ace Neeraj Chopra, India still have some strong medal hopes in the fray.

In Neeraj's absence, the likes of long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, steeplechaser Avinash Sable, veteran discus thrower Seema Punia and javelin thrower Annu Rani are expected to step up and try to achieve glory in the multi-sporting spectacle.

India is also expected to win at least a medal from one of the three triple jumpers in Praveen Chitravel, Abdulla Aboobacker and Eldhose Paul, who made it to the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022 final.

The country's best athletics medal haul had come at the Delhi CWG in 2010 with two gold, three silver and seven bronze. That performance will surely be difficult to match, but the Indians would be looking for their second-best show ever.

As track and field action is set to begin on Tuesday with the men's long jump qualifying round, with PTI inputs, myKhel.com looks at five main medal prospects for the India.

Murali Sreeshankar (Long jump)

National record holder Sreeshankar has been in fine form with 8M-plus jumps on many occasions this season though he failed to impress in his seventh place finish at Oregon 2022 final with a best jump of 7.96M.

He could have won at least a bronze had he matched his season's and personal best of 8.36M. Sreeshankar will head into the Games as season leader among the athletes from the Commonwealth countries.

Seema Punia (Discus throw)

Seema is gunning for her fifth medal in as many appearances after winning three silver and one bronze so far. The most decorated Indian athlete at the CWG, she has never returned empty-handed though her best performance this season was the 57.09M effort at Chula Vista in USA last month.

She had won a silver in the last edition with a best throw of 60.41M and in a weak field is a sure medal bet for India at Birmingham 2022.

Dutee Chand (100M)

The current national champion in the women's 100M, Dutee holds numerous records including being the first Indian to win a gold medal in the 100M race in a World Championship. She is also the third Indian woman to have ever qualified for the women's 100M at Olympics.

At the 2018 Asian Games, she took home silver in the women's 100M race, giving India its first medal in this competition since 1998. After so many laurels to her name, everyone will keep an eye on her this year to achieve another feat for the country.

Eldhose Paul (Triple jump)

Much is expected from triple jumper Paul who made it to the final at Oregon 2022 recently.

After his performance at Hayward Field in Eugene , Eldhose now can look forward to Birmingham with a realistic hope of standing on the podium, perhaps on top.

Tejaswin Shankar (High jump)

High jumper Shankar, who was included last minute on the orders of Delhi High Court after being ignored in the original squad, is also a medal prospect.

With five finalists from Oregon heading to Birmingham where competition will be relatively easier, India would fancy their chances to win a handful of medals from the track and field.