The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has trimmed India’s athletics contingent for the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, with defending javelin champion Annu Rani among three athletes dropped from the squad following the final assessment.
Rani, who won gold at the previous edition in Hangzhou in 2023, was left out after failing to achieve the qualification mark set by the AFI. Sprinter Nithya Gandhe and rising long jumper Shahnavaz Khan were the other two athletes removed from the contingent due to performance and medical-related reasons.
The AFI had initially named a 77-member athletics squad on September 3, but the Indian Athletics Series Final at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi on Thursday served as a confirmatory event. Following the competition, the AFI Selection Committee decided to trim the contingent to 74 athletes.
RANI FALLS SHORT
AFI Selection Committee chairman Adille Sumariwalla explained that the Delhi event was not a fresh qualifying opportunity for athletes who had failed to meet the required standard earlier.
“The Indian Athletics Series Final was a confirmatory event and not a qualifying one. So, those who have breached the qualifying standards are confirmed. But those who breached the qualifying marks after the last qualifying event (National Inter-State) can’t be picked,” Sumariwalla told PTI.
Rani won the women’s javelin competition in Delhi with a season-best throw of 57.50m. However, the effort still fell short of the AFI’s Asian Games qualifying mark of 57.62m.
“Annu did not achieve qualification mark (set by AFI) in the final trial (on Thursday), hence not selected for the Asian Games,” Sumariwalla said.
The 34-year-old had struggled to reach the required distance throughout the season. She had not breached the 57.62m mark in eight competitions before Thursday, with her latest effort in Delhi still 12cm short of the benchmark.
Rani’s omission is particularly significant given her record at the Asian Games. She won gold in Hangzhou in 2023 with a throw of 62.92m. Her performances, however, have declined since then, with a best of 60.68m in 2024 and 62.59m in 2025.
Her last throw beyond 60m came in August 2025 at the National Inter-State Championships, where she recorded 61.05m. Rani’s personal best of 63.82m, set in 2022, remains the national record.
GANDHE ALSO DROPPED
Gandhe, who had been selected for India’s 4x100m relay squad, was also removed from the contingent. She finished ninth in the women’s 100m final in Delhi on Thursday in 11.93 seconds.
The 26-year-old has a season’s best of 11.59 seconds and a personal best of 11.41 seconds. Her omission could open the door for Harita Bhadra to join the women’s 4x100m relay team.
Bhadra won the 100m race in Delhi in 11.22 seconds, recording the second-fastest time in terms of personal best among the Indian entrants. She had already been selected for the 200m and 4x100m mixed relay events at the Asian Games.
However, Bhadra cannot simply be added to the individual 100m event and would require approval from the Asian Games organisers to compete in that race.
Shahnavaz was the third athlete dropped, with Sumariwalla citing poor performance as the reason for his exclusion.
The remaining 74 athletes will depart for Japan from New Delhi on Saturday. They will then attend a short acclimatisation camp at the University of Tsukuba near Tokyo before travelling to Aichi-Nagoya on September 21, two days before the athletics events begin.
India will therefore head into the Asian Games without its defending women’s javelin champion, with Rani’s failure to meet the AFI’s qualification mark ultimately costing her a place in the contingent despite her victory in Thursday’s final trial.
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