Federation Cup athletics from Saturday

The seventh Federation Cup athletics championships commence in Bangalore on Saturday with top stars hoping to get back to their peak form ahead of the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada.

The three-day premier athletic event, at the Sree Kanteerava stadium, will serve as a selection trial for the August 4-12 World championships.

"Most of the athletes are participating," national coach Bahadur Singh told reporters in Bangalore on Friday night.

Among the prominent absentees, he said, are top woman sprinter Rachita Mistry (Railways), Bahadur Singh (shot put, Police) and Jagdish Bishnoi (javelin, Police).

Top men's sprinter Anil Kumar of the Services is also unlikely to participate.

The star attraction will be 23-year-old Anju George, who created a national record with a leap of 6.74 metres in the long jump in the second circuit meet at Thiruvananthapuram.

Her performance was the only 'saving grace' in an otherwise lacklustre display churned out at the three circuit meets held at Nagercoil, Thiruvananthapuram and Bangalore earlier this month as none of the existing marks were improved.

In fact, Anju's face-off with local star Pramila Ganapathy is keenly being looked forward to as the two athletes have developed an 'onfield rivalry'.

According to the national coach, there will be a total of 43 events in the men's and women's sections.

The stakes are also high for seasoned campaigner K M Beenamol (Railways) as she was relegated to second place by Jincy Philip (Police) in the 400 metres in Thiruvananthapuram.

Top shot-putter Shakti Singh (Police) also returns to the competitive arena after being out of action in the three circuit meets.

Delhi's Kavita Pandya (100 metres) and veteran Railway star Neelam J Singh (Discus) are looking forward to starting from where they had left off in the circuit meets, where they had finished on top in all the three legs.

The meet, organised by the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited, will be inaugurated by Amateur Athletic Association of India and Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi.