Ranchi, May 14 (PTI) Asian Games champion shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist javelin thrower Annu Rani will headline the Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championship starting here on Monday.

Several top athletes, including the likes of Birmingham CWG gold winner triple jumper Eldhose Paul, silver medallists Avinash Sable (300m steeplechase) and Murali Sreeshankar (long jump) will not feature in the four-day meet.

A hamstring injury suffered last month has also forced star sprinter Hima Das out of the championships, which will see more than 5000 athletes vying for honours at the Birsa Munda Stadium.

The first major domestic track and field event of the season will act as a qualifying event for the July 12-16 Asian Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Bangkok.

It will also be a good platform for aspiring athletes aiming to achieve qualification standards for the August 19-27 Budapest World Athletics Championships and Hangzhou Asian Games scheduled to be held in September-October.

Some other top athletes missing out include men’s long jump national record holder Jeswin Aldrin, national record holder long jumper, talented long jumper Shaili Singh and triple jumper Praveen Chithravel, who recently bettered the national record, among others.

Most of them are training or competing abroad as part of preparations for the Asian Games and World Championships.

The 30-year-old Annu, also the national record holder, has been training in Offenburg, Germany since February and she will kick start her 2023 season.

Injury forces Hima Das to skip Federation Cup ============================ Star sprinter Hima Das will also miss the Federation Cup as she is nursing a hamstring injury which she sustained just before the Indian Grand Prix IV in Bengaluru on April 15.

“It’s (Hima’s injury) not the old back problem but a hamstring injury. She suffered the injury just a day before the IGP IV in Bengaluru,” a top source told

Source: PTI News