Bhubaneswar: Long jumpers Murali Sreeshankar and Ancy Sojan, sprinters Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh will be among some of the Indian stars who will vie for top honours in the World Athletics Continental Tour silver-level meet Saturday.
The Indian athletes can use the one-day meet as a tune-up for the upcoming Asian Games in Japan as they will rub shoulders with athletes from other countries, including the likes of 2024 Paris Olympics bronze-winning quarter-miler Muzala Samukonga of Zambia.
Samukonga boasts a season best of 44.02 seconds and personal best of 43.74 seconds. He will be joined by Nigeria’s World No. 10 shot putter Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, a Commonwealth Games champion and Paris Olympics finalist.
There will be 18 events split equally between men and women. Male athletes will compete in 100m, 400m, 800m, 110m hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put and javelin throw.
Female athletes will compete in 100m, 400m, 1500m, 100m hurdles, high jump, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw.
Top performers will earn crucial world ranking points as well as cash prizes. The winners will pocket USD 1,600, USD 1,200 for second-place finishers and USD 900 for third- place finishers.
India has fielded their top athletes in almost all the 18 events. In all, the one-day meet will see around 200 participants, including 88 Indians.
Athletes from 26 nations, including around 140 participants from 12 Asian countries, are taking part in the event.
The meet is India’s first-ever World Athletics Continental Tour silver event after successfully staging a bronze-level competition here last year. As many as 195 athletes from 17 countries took part in 2025. Following its success, World Athletics upgraded the Bhubaneswar event to silver level this year.
The men’s long jump will see all the top Indian athletes, including Sreeshankar, Shahnavaz Khan, Lokesh Sathyanathan and P David. All of them have season’s best of 8m-plus. The Indians are likely to sweep the podium.
National record holder Gurindervir will have the company of Animesh in the 100m dash which is likely to have a tough competition for supremacy. Retshidistwe Mlenga of South Africa and Yuki Koike of Japan could be the favourites with season best of 10.03 seconds and 10.06 seconds respectively. Both have run sub-10 seconds earlier.
National record holder shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor will again be up against Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi who had won gold in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with a throw of 21.07m. Toor had finished fifth with 20.27m. South Africa’s Aiden Smith, who had finished fourth in Glasgow, is also in the fray, so also is another Indian Samardeep Singh Gill.
With two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra not competing, Yashvir Singh, who won a bronze in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, and Rohit Yadav, the season leader among the Indians, will spearhead the host country’s challenge. Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Jena, who has been struggling of late, is also in the fray.
Indians are also set to dominate the men’s javelin event.
Chopra competes in the Lausanne Diamond League Friday.
National record holder Jyothi Yarraji will have a tough competition in the women’s 100m hurdles as she will be up against Charisma Taylor of Bahamas, a semifinalist at the 2024 Olympics with a personal best of 12.57 seconds.
Yarraji has a season best of 12.85 seconds and a personal best of 12.78 seconds. Brazil’s Vitoria Alves, who has a season best of 12.57 seconds, is also in the fray.
Other Indians to be seen in action include Vishal TK (men’s 400m), Kiran Pahal and M R Poovamma (women’s 400m), Pooja Singh (women’s high jump), Shaili Singh (women’s long jump), Seema Kaliramana (women’s discus throw), Annu Rani (women’s javelin throw), Harita Bhadra (women’s 100m), Mohammed Ashfaq (men’s 400m), Mohammed Afsal (men’s 800m), Aadarsh Ram (men’s high jump) and Anand Singh (men’s javelin throw).
Several of them, who are expected to compete in the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in Japan from September 19, are from Reliance Foundation.
“Bhubaneswar is the home of Indian athletics and I’m sure it will be a fantastic event. A lot of our athletes who will be going to the Asian Games next month will be competing here and this will be ideal preparation for them,” said James Hillier, Athletics Director at Reliance Foundation.