Athletes out to grab Rio tickets

Rio berths will be on top of their minds when a host of India’s track and field athletes get into action at the Federation Cup national athletics championships — season’s first major meet — at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here beginning Thursday.

A total of 18 athletes have already sealed their Rio spots, though most of them are race walkers and marathon racers in men’s and women’s sections, and thus there would be a lot more Olympic berths available for the athletes competing at these championships.

Interes-tingly, the three-day meet is going to be held just four days after a power failure at the venue which resulted in the first leg of the Indian Grand Prix ending in a farce.

Shot-putter Inderjeet Singh will be the biggest name competing on the opening day on Thursday. Promising Neeraj Chopra will be another athlete looking for a good show in the men’s javelin throw.

The sizzling rivalry in both men’s and women’s 400m is also expected to be witnessed in the meet with M.R. Poovamma, Anilda Thomas and Anu Raghavan, along with Ashwini Akkunji should make the women’s race compelling to watch.