Dutee Chand to lead India for Asian Junior Championships

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) today announced a 34-member Indian team, including rising sprinter Dutee Chand, for the Asian Junior Championship to be held at Taipei City from June 12-15.
The Indian team will be led by 2013 Asian Athletics Championships bronze medalist in 200 metres sprint Dutee Chand and upcoming thrower Navjeet Kaur Dhillon. Both of them impressed with their performance at the Federation Cup Junior National Championships in Chennai.
In the boys section, discus thrower Sachin, who created a new National junior record with a throw of 58.11 metres in the Chennai meet, shot putter Navtejdeep Singh and Shakti Solanki will lead the Indian campaign.

The Selection Committee had set the third-place position mark/timing of the previous edition of the Junior Asian Championship held at Colombo as the criteria for selection to the India team for the 2014 Championship.
The 2014 Junior Federation Cup National Championships served as the performance meet for the selection of the India Junior team.
The selection committee also took into consideration the harsh weather condition which prevailed during the Chennai meet, for the team selection.

Chief coach and Dronacharya award winner JS Bhatia said, "The Asian Junior Championships will be the biggest platform for most of these athletes in the team barring a few like Dutee Chand, who has already made a mark on the international stage. The youngsters are raring for the challenge and will go flat out to win medals."

Former Asian Games double gold medalists Jyotirmoyee Sikdar will be the manager of the India Junior team for the prestigious meet, while the legendary PT Usha will add strength to the coaching staff as the sprint coach.
N Ramesh for sprint, Renu Kohli for middle and long distance and Jaspal Singh for throws, are the other coaches with the team.