The Indian athletics contingent faced a heavy duty cut on Monday, as nine members out of the original 41 athletes, who were slated to take part in the 2014 Common Wealth Games in Glasgow, were left out.
Some familiar names who were dropped included young sprinter Dutee Chand and triple jumper Renjith Maheswary, where the former misses out after being asked to take a gender test whilst the latter was embroiled in a doping controversy in September 2013 and hence will not be allowed to take part.
The entire six-member 4x100m men's relay team were cut owing to a sub-standard performance that they put up at the trials, thereby causing for the total number of members to drop down from 224 to 215.
Athletics Federation of India chief, CK Valson said in an interview: "We have 33 Indian athletes taking part in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Renjith Maheswary is not there in the team and we have also pulled out the six-member men's 4x100m relay team due to injury and also due to performance-related issues."
Another name in the original list that raised questions was that of Harwant Kaur, who was the CWG 2010 silver medalist in the womens discus throw category but has not actively participated in any event for the past two years. Her current form was therefore questionable.
When quizzed on the same, Valson said: "We sent a provisional list to IOA long time back, may be four or five months back and Harwant's name might have been there. But, her name is not there in the final list."
The following is a complete list of the athletes who will be taking part in the games:-
Men:
- 4x400m Relay: Rajiv Arokia, Kunhu Mohammed, Sachin Roby, Lalit Mathur, Jithu Baby, Jibin Sebastian.
- 110m Hurdle: Siddhanth Thingalaya Triple Jump: Arpinder Singh Shot Put: Om Prakash Karhana Discus Throw: Vikas Gowda Javelin Throw: Ravinder Singh Khaira, Devinder Singh, Vipin Kasana.
- Hammer Throw: Kamalpreet Singh, Chandrodaya Narayan Singh
Women:
- 4x100m Relay: Saradha Narayan, H M Jyothi, Sarbani Nanda, Asha Roy, Santhini Vallikkad, Merlin K Joseph.
- 4x400m Relay: M R Poovamma, Tintu Luka, Debashree Majumdar, Ratandeep Kaur, Anilda Thomas, Ashwini Akkunji.
- High Jump: Sahana Kumari
- Long Jump: Mayookha Johny
- Discus Throw: Seema Punia, Krishna Poonia
- Javelin Throw: Annu Rani.
