The Bhopal competition, which will be the first qualifier for Beijing Olympics, is where the biggies will jostle for space during the four-day meet. But it will not be just the seniors, even the juniors will get a chance, provided they manage to make their mark.

Middle-distance runners Parkash Verma and Ravinder Kumar Singh, who just graduated to the men’s group, are prominent. Both are in the national camps in Bangalore. Discus throwers Priyanka Bhanot and Monica Joon and middle-distance runner Sushma stand tall in the women’s section with their recent achievements. Sushma, who is at the Bangalore camp, had won two silver medals at the just-concluded Asian Indoors in Doha.

Ravinder and Parkash, ranked among the top six in their respective events in the 2007, have been knocking at the doors of senior selectors to grab a place in the Indian squad for quite some time. If Delhi coach Satyapal Singh is to be believed, Ravinder is enjoying good fitness this season and is raring to go.

“In Bhopal, he (Ravinder) should be able to improve on his time of 3:43.8 seconds which was his best last year. I believe he should be among the medallists,” said the coach. Parkash is another medal hope in the team, feels the coach. His best in 2007 was 1:49.47, which ranked him overall fifth among the best in the business.

Among the throwers, Priyanka and Monica are likely to be in the limelight. The two, after graduating to the senior level, were ranked among the top seven in 2007. Monica retained her discus title at the all India inter-varsity competition, while Priyanka had a great 2007. Besides winning a gold at the SAF Junior Athletics meet last year in Colombo, she also won a bronze, competing in the senior section of the meet. Both are hoping to begin the season on a positive note.

Anita, another aspiring distance runner, with a half-marathon title to her credit at the all India inter-varsity meet, will get a chance to prove her mettle when she steps on the track for the 5,000m event.

The squads
Men: Rajesh Kumar (100m, 200m), Prakash Verma (400m, 800m), Ravinder Kumar Singh (1500m, 5,000m), Hari Singh (3000m steeple chase, 5,000m), Puneet Vij (discus), Ashwani Solanki (shot put), Hanuman Singh, Sunil Goswami (both javelin), Naveen (decathlon), Naresh Choudhary (hammer), Kulwinder (shot put).