Poovamma, Inderjeet to lead 68-member athletics team at SAG

Ace quartermiler MR Poovamma and Asian champion shot putter Inderjeet Singh will spearhead a 68-member Indian athletics team at the 12th SAF Games to be held in Guwahati from February 5-16, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said today.
Poovamma, who won gold in the women's 4x400m relay at the 2014 Asian Games, and Inderjeet, a gold medallist at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2015, will be part of the Indian squad which also includes Olympian shot putter Omprakash Singh Karhana.
The Indian athletics team, comprising 36 men and 32 women, will compete in the track and field tournament of the SAF Games which is scheduled be held from February 9-12.

India topped the medal tally in athletics in the previous edition held at Dhaka in 2010, winning 29 medals overall, including 10 gold medals, 11 silver and 8 bronze. The Indian team is expected to face competition from Sri Lanka, which finished second in the medal tally in track and field in the 2010 Games.
This time, the athletics competition will witness 20 events in men and 17 in women respectively at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium, Sarusajai Sports Complex, Guwahati.
AFI President and Olympian, Adille J Sumariwalla said: "The 12th SAF Games is special because it's being hosted in Guwahati and we hope to notch up maximum number of medals at home.

"Though the competition is being held at a time when our elite athletes are in the midst of their training for 2016 Olympics, we've tried to select the best possible team under the situation. The team is a good mix of experience and youth and we hope they will return with a rich haul of medals from the 2016 SAF Games."

Meanwhile, the preparations are in full swing at the various National camps and a number of elite athletes who have qualified for Rio, are also expected to be part of the action at the SAF Games.
The National campers for quarter miles, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relays for both men and women under coach Yuri Ogorodnik returned from a 69-day training stint in Turkey and will reach Guwahati from their present camp in Thiruvananthapuram.

The leading long and triple jumpers in the country who are currently training under Romanian coach Bedros Bedrosian in Thiruvananthapuram are scheduled to participate first in the SAF Games and next at the Asian Indoor Championships to be held at Doha from February 19.
Asian champion Inderjeet Singh is scheduled to reach Guwahati directly from his training centre in the US. However, the organisers have not received enough entries to conduct the men's hammer throw event, and therefore the event is uncertain till now.