Bhubaneswar ready for Indian GPs 3 & 4

All eyes on men’s triple jump as stars training abroad give events a miss

After two postponements and moving States, the third Indian Grand Prix will finally be held here on Saturday but in the absence of many of the big names, it is likely to be more of a testing ground for the second rung and beyond of Indian athletics than anything else.

The IGP 3, followed by IGP 4 here a couple of days later and the inter-State championships next month, is one of the last chances for athletes to qualify for the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships later this year. Barring the men’s triple jump, however, not many will have much hope.

The IGP, originally scheduled to be held in Madurai on May 17, was shifted to Thiruvananthapuram and May 21 before moving to Bhubaneswar.

The cream of Indian athletics, including the quartermilers, is currently training in Turkey and is expected back only in the first week of June.

As such, the main attraction of Saturday’s meet would be the competition between Eldhose Paul, Karthik Unnikrishnan and Abdulla Aboobacker, three of the top-four triple jumpers in the country this year and all targeting to be only the third Indian to cross the 17m mark.

Paul came the closest, jumping 16.99m at the Federation Cup in April but the others aren’t too far behind and with all having already cleared the qualifying marks for the major international events, the 17m mark would be a big incentive.

Some of the leading athletes like Tajinder Pal Singh Toor are also missing from the entry list while Amiya Mallick will be a favourite to win in the 200m sprint at home. Interestingly, also expected to be in action is Srabani Nanda in the 200m, the first outing for the sprinter at home this year.