India aim to increase medals haul in Asian junior athletics meet

New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) A 29-member Indian team will participate in the 17th Asian Junior Athletics Championships to be held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from June 3-6.

A team of 27 athletes, along with coaches will leave from here on Monday. Two other promising youngsters, South Asian Games 2016 javelin champion Neeraj Chopra and 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games 400 metres bronze medallist Chandan Bauri will be heading from Spala, Poland, where they are currently training for the 2016 Olympics, an Athletics Federation of India (AFI) release said on Monday.

The Indian junior team features a good mix of promising young athletes who have made their mark at the youth level in 2015 at the Commonwealth Youth Games and Asian Youth Athletics Championships and several new faces.

Amongst the emerging stars in the squad are 800m runner Beant Singh, long jumper Tajaswin Shankar who won gold in the 2015 Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games, 400m runner Jisna Mathew who won silver at the Samoa Games, Asian Youth Championships 3000m gold medallist Kisan Narshi Tadvi in addition to Neeraj Chopra and Chandan Bauri.

The Indian team will be aiming to better their medal haul this time after finishing fifth in the previous Asian Junior Championships held at Taiwan. The Indian team bagged 12 medals, including two golds, six silvers and four bronzes in the 2014 edition.

--IANS

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