Sreeshankar and Shaili promise to brighten up the scene for India at the Asian Championships

The 25th Asian Championships begin in Bangkok on Wednesday and though a country is eligible for two berths in every event, India will have just one athlete each in many of the events where it is among the best in the continent.

Around this time last year, three Indian long jumpers and triple jumpers qualified for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon. And a few days after that, the country won the triple jump gold and silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The 25th Asian Championships begin in Bangkok on Wednesday and though a country is eligible for two berths in every event, India will have just one athlete each in many of the events where it is among the best in the continent.

That includes the javelin throw where Neeraj Chopra is the Olympic champion and the current World No. 1 and where Indians occupy three of the top four slots in this year’s Asian list. And in long jump, Jeswin Aldrin and M. Sreeshankar are currently the World No. 1 and 2 this season but only the latter will be in action in Bangkok.

In triple jump, Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Aboobacker occupy two of the top three rungs in the continental list but the former has opted to stay away. That is the case in the men’s shot put too where Tajinderpal Singh Toor is the Asian record holder.

While Neeraj and 3000m steeple chaser Avinash Sable have skipped Bangkok to focus on next month’s World Championships in Budapest, strangely some of the top athletes are either injured or have fitness issues after coming up with stellar shows earlier in the season. And Karanveer Singh, the second entry in the men’s shot put, has been withdrawn from the Asians at the last minute after failing a dope test.

Gomathi Marimuthu lost her 800m gold after testing positive at the last Asians, in Doha 2019, and the doping issue will be the biggest worry for the country as the Asians begin. With news coming in that national campers Anjali Devi, the fastest Indian female quartermiler this year, and seasoned sprinter Archana Suseendran have tested positive for dope, the scene should be a bit gloomy for the Indians in Bangkok.

Amidst the gloom, long jumpers — M. Sreeshankar in the men’s section and 19-year-old Shaili Singh, the Asian women’s season leader — are expected to brighten up things.