Familiar Tamil Nadu names give national athletics meet a miss

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Among the five Tamil Nadu track and field athletes who took part in the Tokyo Olympics, Revathi Veeramani is the only athlete who will be taking part in the National Open Athletics Championships from September 15-19 in Warangal, Telangana. She is employed with the Railways and has to take part for her department in the event.

She will be taking part in the 400m, 4x400m mixed relay and 4x400m women relay events at the meet. The entire Tamil Nadu Olympic contingent, much like everybody else who returned from Tokyo, has been busy attending a slew of felicitations and ceremonies since the conclusion of the marquee event. While Revathi has no option but to take part in the upcoming event, the others – Arokia Rajiv, S Dhanalakshmi, Subha Venkatesan and Naganathan Pandi – have chosen to skip it since they have been unable to focus on their training.  

Tamil Nadu Athletics Association (TNAA) secretary C Latha sums it up aptly when she says with a chuckle: “Others are very busy in felicitation functions. They have had a gap in their training since coming back. Their training routines have been broken. So they are not in the right shape to take part in the event.”
Revathi, too, is plagued by tiredness but has been part of the Railways camp in New Delhi since August 30. It has been a period of hectic off-field activity for the 23-year-old.

“I haven’t been able to train a lot. Since coming back from the Olympics, most of the time has gone in attending functions and ceremonies. I haven’t had a lot of time to rest. It has been very tiring,” says Revathi.

Tamil Nadu is sending a total of 35 athletes (18 men and 17 women) for the event.

TN squad:

Men: Kathriyan (100m), S Rishwanth (100m), B Nithin (200m), G Ragul Kumar (200m), A Vignesh (200m), P Abimanyu (400m), Santhosh Kumar (400m, 400m H), M Sathish Kumar (5000m, 10000m), Veeramani (110m hurdles), Pravin Kumar (400m hurdles), R Hemanth Babu (long jump), Jeswin (long jump), Jeswin (long jump), S Saran (long jump), E Aravinth (triple jump), C Praveen (triple jump), R Sakthi Mahendran (pole vault), M Jeya Surya (50km walking), V Naveen Kumar (decathlon).

Women: S Archana (100m, 200m), K Roshini (200m), S Sangeetha (400m), R Vithya (400m, 400m H), K Nandhini (100m hurdles), J Divya (400m hurdles), A Sherin (long jump), R Punitha (long jump), I Asha (long jump, triple jump), R Aishwarya (triple jump), P Babisha (triple jump), Gracena G Merly (high jump), G Giji (high jump), P Rosy Meena (pole vault), V Pavithra (pole vault), V Nandhini (shot put, discus throw)