Archana Suseendran chosen to participate in World C’ships

Archana Suseentran, whose progression chart in the women's 200m saw a stunning rise this season, will compete at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha beginning September 27.

“Archana has got a last-minute invite (from IAAF) in the 200m for the Worlds. Her entry has been sent,” said an AFI official on Friday evening.

The 25-year-old from Madurai, who has been training under coach M. Riaz in Chennai for nearly six years, clocked a personal best 23.18s while winning the gold at the Indian Grand Prix in Patiala last month. She also had a personal best — 11.49s — in 100m at the Inter-State Nationals in Lucknow a couple of weeks later.

The IAAF has a target number of 56 for the 200m and after filling up the slots with athletes who had achieved the qualification standard and with Area champions and wildcards, there were still a number of vacancies. These it offered to athletes based on their position in the performance list during the qualification period.

S. Dhanalakshmi also had the invitation for the 200m from the IAAF. But she wasn't selected by the AFI.

The Athletics Federation of India revealed that Hima Das (out with an injury) and B. Dhanalakshmi (who had a personal best of 23.24s —a performance that won her the gold at the the National Inter-University Championships in November, 2018) also got invitations from the IAAF for the 200m. But only Archana got the selectors' nod.