As part of its preparation for the Rio Olympics, a 22-member Indian athletics squad, including Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose and Jithin Paul, will train for 70 days at a state-of-the-art centre in Antalya, Turkey.
The athletes along with the support staff, including veteran coach Yuri Ogorodnik, will leave for Antalya on Saturday morning.
The squad comprises athletes from the National camp for the quarter-mile event, 400m hurdles and the 4x400m relay events (men and women). A total of eight women, nine men, five coaches and support staff are part of the team.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) President and IAAF Council Member, Adille J. Sumariwalla, said, “The AFI will strive to do everything in its power to provide the best of training facilities to our athletes for the 2016 Olympics. The training centre in Antalya in Turkey offers the right combination of climatic conditions and also a synthetic hill track for the training of our athletes.
“We hope these world-class training conditions will make a difference to the preparation of our athletes for Rio and I extend my best wishes to all of them. I’m also grateful to the Sports Authority of India and the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for supporting our athletes.”
The training camp in Antalya is expected to help prepare the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams for the 2016 Olympics, and also boost the chances of Indian athletes in individual events, such as women’s and men’s 400m and 400m hurdles.
The 4x400m women’s relay squad is the reigning Asian Games champion and Asian Games record-holder, while the men’s 4x400m relay squad had won a medal in the past at the Asian Games.
In the 400m, Rajiv Arokia and M. R. Poovamma had won bronze medals in the men’s and women’s sections respectively at the 2014 Asian Games. Star athlete Ashwini Akkunji had won two gold medals in the 2010 Asian Games, including one in the women’s 400m hurdles.
Comments
SHARE