Paris Olympics: Long Jump Record Holder Jeswin Aldrin Dropped as AFI Announces 28-Member Indian Athletics Team

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The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has announced the 28-member team that will represent India in athletics at the Paris Olympics 2024. The announcement was made on Thursday, July 4, when the Tokyo Olympics gold medal winner in javelin throw, Neeraj Chopra, led the contingent.

Among notable absences despite qualification was long jump national record holder Jeswin Aldrin as AFI announced a total of 11 female and 17 male athletes listed for the Summer Games in Paris.

Aldrin secured a distance of 8.42m in the 2022 World Athletics Championships to break the national record. However, it was before the Paris Olympics 2024 cycle. Aldrin hasn't been at his best recently and has struggled to reach even the 8m mark.

Ranked 33rd out of the top 32 in the Road to Paris rankings, Aldrin was expected to be a part of the Indian contingent replacing Murali Sreeshankar who already qualified by breaching the Olympic standards but was ruled out due to a knee injury.

However, Aldrin's recent form could be a primary reason for AFI to drop him as his last appearance at the Inter-State athletics championships in Panchkula, Haryana, was a below-par 7.75m jump to finish second.

The athletics events are slated to take place from August 1 to August 11 at the Stade de France. The cut-off date for athletes to qualify for the Paris Olympics in track and field events was June 30.

Many of the Indian athletes breached the Olympic qualification standard by the cut-off date to secure a direct spot in the Olympics whereas the other Indian athletes qualified through the Road to Paris World Athletics rankings by being in the qualification zone for their respective events.

Here’s the list of the 28-member Indian contingent in track and field events for the Paris Olympics 2024

Men:

• Avinash Sable (3000m steeplechase)
• Neeraj Chopra (Javelin throw)
• Kishore Kumar Jena (Javelin throw)
• Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Shot put)
• Praveen Chithravel (Triple jump)
• Abdulla Aboobacker (Triple jump)
• Akshdeep Singh (20km race walk)
• Vikash Singh (20km race walk)
• Paramjeet Singh Bisht (20km race walk)
• Muhammed Anas (4x400m relay)
• Muhammed Ajmal (4x400m relay)
• Amoj Jacob (4x400m relay)
• Santhosh Tamilarasan (4x400m relay)
• Rajesh Ramesh (4x400m relay)
• Mijo Chacko Kurian (4x400m relay and 4x400m mixed relay)
• Suraj Panwar (Race walk mixed marathon)
• Sarvesh Kushare (High jump)

Women:

• Kiran Pahal (400m)
• Parul Chaudhary (3000m steeplechase and 5000m)
• Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles)
• Annu Rani (Javelin throw)
• Abha Khatua (Shot put)
• Jyothika Sri Dandi (4x400m relay)
• Subha Venkatesan (4x400m relay)
• Vithya Ramraj (4x400m relay)
• Poovamma MR (4x400m relay)
• Prachi (4x400m and 4x400m mixed relay)
• Priyanka Goswami (20km race walk/ race walk mixed marathon)