The Asian Athletics Championships 2025 starts on Tuesday, May 27 and India will be looking to showcase their progress in track and field across the four-day tournament which will take place in Gumi, South Korea.
Here's all you need to know about the Championships:
Any big names to watch out for?
The biggest name in the Championships will be Arshad Nadeem, Olympic champion. With Neeraj Chopra absent, he's runaway favourite to win gold in the men's javelin. Those looking to run him close and make a name for themselves will be Sri Lanka's Sumedha Ranasinghe (PB 85.78m, set this year) as well as the Indians in the field, Sachin Yadav (PB 84.39m) and Yashvir Singh (PB 82.13m). They'll have to do some throwing, though - Nadeem told reporters earlier this month that he was "targeting a 100m throw."
Women's Olympic discus champion Feng Bin will be another star attraction as will Olympic bronze medalist in shot put, Song Jiayun. There will be no Indian participation in either event.
High jump will see double world indoor champion (and Worlds silver medalist), Woo Sang-Hyeok headline the event. India's Sarvesh Kushare, who finished second to Woo last time out, will be his main competition.
Ernest John Obiena, the world's 4th ranked pole vaulter, is favourite for pole vault gold, with his personal best of 6.00m being unmatched across the board. There's no Indian representation here. Also, watch out for Thailand's sprinting sensation, Puripol Boonson, the reigning world's u20 silver medalist, in the men's 100m.
There will be no Indian representation here, either. More on that later.
What about the Indians?
There are quite a few Indian talents to keep an eye out for (other than the ones mentioned above). Watch out for Avinash Sable men's 3000m steeplechase, Tejaswin Shankar in the decathlon, Shaili Singh and Ancy Sojan in the women's long jump, Praveen Chitravel in the men's triple jump, Gulveer Singh in the 5000m and 10,000m races, and new men's 200m national record holder Animesh Kujur.
Three Indians will look to defend their gold medals: Parul Chaudhary (women's 3000m steeplechase), Abdulla Aboobacker (men's triple jump) and Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles). An all new 4x400m mixed relay team will look to defend gold from 2023 too. Also keep an eye out for the 4x100m relay team of Animesh, Gurindervir Singh, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain.
You can check out the full squad here.
Any notable exclusions?
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Neeraj Chopra excluded himself because of Diamond League (and other big international meet) commitments while reigning long jump silver medalist Murali Sreeshankar is still recovering from long-term injury. Two-time Asian champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor's poor form this year meant he failed to qualify. The surprising exclusions from the India squad were sprinters Gurindervir Singh and Manikanta Hoblidhar from the men's 100m. The former set a new national record in March, while the latter also dipped below the previous mark in the same race. In fact, if either had run those timings (10.20s and 10.23s) in last year's 100m final they'd have won bronze.
The Athletics Federation of India, though, deemed that their poor run in the Federation Cup final (organized in hostile conditions, with three 100m sprints on the opening day) meant they couldn't participate.
A rather arbitrary mark is also the reason rising pole vaulting talent Dev Meena won't be taking part in Gumi.
How did India fare in the last Asian Championships?
India finished third in 2023 (6G, 12S, 9B), a marked improvement on their fifth placed finish from 2019 (2G, 7S, 7B), and just two golds behind second-placed China. Japan, though, dominated the 2023 edition with 16 golds (and 37 medals overall) in Bangkok.