Bhubaneswar: The World Athletics Continental Tour Silver Level meet will bring together a clutch of top performers at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday.
One of the main attractions for athletics lovers will be the participation of long-jumper Murali Sreeshankar, fresh from a silver medal-winning performance at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
The 27-year-old Sreeshankar is absolutely looking forward to the World Athletics Silver level one-day meet as the Kalinga Stadium happens to be his favourite venue. The two best efforts of his career – 8.41 metres and 8.38 metres – have both been achieved at the Odisha capital, the second one a few months ago in the National Inter-State Championships.
Like some of the other leading Indian athletes, Sreeshankar believes the $75,000 prize-money event will serve as good preparation for next month’s Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan.
“This is a good preparatory event leading up to the Asian Games. The Asian Games is just 29 days away. This is a good pit stop to assess where our training and physical fitness stand. The field is also very strong,” Sreeshankar at a press conference on Thursday.
The prestigious meet will add another cap to Bhubaneswar’s feather. Jointly organised by the Sports and Youth Services Department of Odisha government, Athletics Federation of India (AFI), and World Athletics, the meet has been upgraded to Silver status following last year’s successful conduct of Bronze-level event.
Dress rehearsal for 2 big championships
The Silver Level event will serve as a major preparatory step toward two major international tournaments to be staged at Kalinga Stadium in 2028 — World Athletics Indoor Championships and Asian Indoor Athletics Championships.
Saturday’s competition will feature 187 athletes from 27 countries, including 143 top performers from 12 Asian nations. There will be 88 Indians in action, looking to impress against 99 international athletes.
Among foreign contingents, Sri Lanka have brought 24 athletes, South Africa 17 and Brazil 11.
The packed day will see 18 events split equally between men and women. The men will compete in 100m, 400m, 800m, 110m hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put and javelin throw, while women will show their skills in 100m, 400m, 1500m, 100m hurdles, high jump, long jump, javelin throw and discus throw.
The athletes will be vying for World Ranking points as well as cash prizes of $1,600 for first place, $1,200 for second place and $900 for third place.
Odisha participants
For the local flavour, talented sprinter Animesh Kujur will have thousands rooting for him in men’s 100m event.
Other Odisha athletes in fray will be Swadhin Kumar Majhi (high jump), Kishore Jena (javelin), Bapi Hansda (400m), Srabani Nanda (100m) and Pragyan Prasanti Sahoo (100m).
Minister for Sports and Youth Services Suryabanshi Suraj expressed satisfaction for Odisha hosting a Silver-level event following Bronze event in 2025, noting that the prize money reflects the tournament’s growing stature.
Suraj said state athletes are being provided opportunities to rank within the top 6 to 8 globally under World Athletics rules.
AFI chairman Dr Lalit Kumar Bhanot noted that the event offers a unique platform with two finals and enhanced opportunities for Indian athletes.
