Jumper Anju George to lead Indian hopes at Asiad

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Anju Bobby George will lead India's athletics challenge at the Asian Games starting this month in Pusan, South Korea, an athletics federation official said on Tuesday.

George, from Kerala, won India's only track and field medal when she leapt 6.49 metres in the long jump competition at Manchester last month.

She reached 6.74 metres, Asia's best mark this year, at a national meet in New Delhi on Monday to keep alive hopes of a gold at the September 29-October 14 Games.

Another strong medal contender is K. Beenamol, who was a semifinalist in the 400m at the Sydney Olympics.

Long-distance runner Gulab Chand, who clinched the 5,000m silver at the Bangkok Asian Games four years ago, has also been included despite a poor showing in recent competitions.

"Gulab is a proven athlete," Lalit Bhanot told reporters. "The long-distance races are tactical events, and we feel he is still our best bet for a medal over 5,000 and 10,000 metres."

Athletes:

Men - 200m: Anand Menezes; 800m: K.M. Binu; 1,500m: Kuldeep Kumar; 5,000m and 10,000m: Gulab Chand; 4x100m relay: Anil Kumar, Sandeep Sakaria, Anand Menezes, Piyush Kumar, Cliford Joshua, Sanjay Ghosh; 4x400m relay: P. Ramachandran, Paramjit Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Manoj Lal, Satbir Singh, Jata Shankar; Shot put: Shakti Singh, Bahadur Singh; Discus: Anil Kumar; Javelin: Harminder Singh; Hammer: Pramod Kumar

Women - 100m: Saraswati Saha; 200m: Saraswati Saha, Vinita Tripathi; 400m: K. Beenamol, Jincy Philip; 800m: K. Beenamol, Madhuri Singh; 1,500m: Madhuri Singh; 100m hurdles: Saraswati Saha, Rachita Mistry, Vinita Tripathi, V.Jayalakshmi, Anuradha Biswal, Poonam Tomar; 4x400m relay: K. Beenamol, Manjuma Kuriakose, Jincy Philip, Soma Biswas, Manjeet Kaur, S. Geeta; High jump: Bobby Alloysius; Long and Triple jump: Anju Bobby George; Shot put: Harwant Kaur; Discus: Neelam Jaswant Singh, Harwant Kaur; Javelin: Gurmeet Kaur; Hammer: Hardeep Kaur; Heptathlon: Soma Biswas, J.Shobha