Big Indian athletics contingent leaves for Poland for training

A 38-member Indian track and field team will undergo a 12-week training-cum-competition stint at the world class facility at Spala, Poland with most of the athletes aiming for Olympic berths in the next few months.
Out of 38 elite athletes, who have been part of the national camp at various centres in India, 15 are women while the rest are men.
The team, which will be based at Spala's Olympics Training Center from May 9 to August 4, has 10 women from 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay and nine men's counterparts in these three events besides four men and two women javelin throwers.

These 25 athletes will leave from here for Poland on Monday. Seven support staff members, including Yuri Ogorodinik, who returned for his second coaching stint in India last year after being sacked in 2011 in relation to a doping scandal, will be accompanying the athletes.
Thirteen race walkers (10 men and three women), who took part in the IAAF Race Walk Team Championships (May 7-8) in Rome, will directly reach Spala from the Italian capital.
"It is for the first time we are sending a big contingent of Indian athletes to train in Spala. The Spala Olympic Centre is in the top two best training facilities in Europe and one of the best in the world," Athletics Federation of India Secretary General C K Valson said at a press conference here.

"Spala will serve as the training base for all the three groups, with the race walkers planning to train there right upto August 4 while the 400m campers and javelin throwers will be travelling to other countries in the region to compete in Olympic qualification competitions," he added.

Valson said that the cost of the entire trip will be borne by the sports ministry.
He said at least a dozen Indian athletes are expected to qualify for the Olympics in the coming months, besides the 18 who have already made the Rio Games cut.
"We are yet to plan out which competitions these 38 athletes will take part. They will be taking part mostly in Europe with making Spala the base. We are hoping that at least another 6-7 athletes will qualify for the Olympics before the cut-off date," Valson said.

Talking about the athletes who are not going to train at
Spala, including the likes of Dutee Chand, Valson said at least four international invitational meets are being line up so that they can try for Olympic qualification.
"There is IAAF World Challenge in Beijing on May 18, the Taiwan Open International Invitational Meet on May 19-20, Kazakhstan Open International Invitational Meet and a meet in Kyrgyzstan, both in June. Those who are not going to Spala will get the chance to qualify for the Olympics in these events," he said.
Valson also informed that top women's 3000m steeplechase runners Lalita Babar and Sudha Singh will compete in the second leg of the prestigious Diamond League in Shanghai on May 10.

He also said that those who qualify for the Olympics while training at Spala may not take part in the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in late June, which will be one of the Rio Games qualifying events.
Top woman quarter-miler M R Poovamma, one of 38 athletes going to Spala, said she would want to qualify for the Olympics and achieve near peak form while at Spala.
"I am confident that I will be able to qualify for the Olympics while at Spala. My aim is to keep on improving my timing while at Spala and reach my peak during the Olympics. There is no point peaking early in the season," said Poovamma who won a bronze in the Federation Cup here last month and bagged a gold in the second leg of the Indian Grand Prix in Patiala yesterday.