Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], August 9 : Top Indian track and field athletes from the country will lock horns with international stars at the Indian Open 2025 World Athletics Bronze Level Continental Tour meet, which is scheduled to take place at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
Dubbed as the first Indian Open, it will be the maiden World Athletics Bronze Level Continental Tour athletics meet hosted by India, as per Olympics.com.
Organised annually by World Athletics, the Continental Tour is an annual series of track and field competitions. It is the second tier of global meetings after the elite Diamond League.
Established in 2020, the Continental Tour has four levels - gold, silver, bronze and challenger.
A World Athletics Continental Tour event on home soil will be a golden opportunity for Indian athletes to earn valuable ranking points and give their chances of qualifying for next month's World Athletics Championships in Tokyo a boost.
Home conditions could give them a strong edge in their bid to meet the qualification standards for direct entry to the World Championships.
Though javelin ace Neeraj Chopra and the injured Avinash Sable won't be competing in Bhubaneswar, the 1st Indian Open World Athletics Bronze Level Continental Tour will feature some of the top track and field stars from the country.
The list includes the fastest Indian on track, Animesh Kujur, who now owns the national records in both men's 100m and 200m sprints. However, he will have stiff competition from Malaysian national record holder Muhammad Azeem Fahmi.
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar has been on a three-event winning streak since returning from injury earlier this year, and the Asian and Commonwealth Games silver medallist will look to build up more steam in the lead-up to Tokyo25.
Mohammed Afsal, the men's 800m national record holder, will also be in action in Bhubaneswar alongside Shaili Singh (women's long jump), Vithya Ramraj (women's 400m) and several others.
With Neeraj out, Asian Athletics Championships silver medallist Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh will front the Indian challenge in the men's javelin throw.
However, Sri Lankan thrower Rumesh Pathirage, who pipped Sachin to the bronze at the NC Classic in Bengaluru last month, is also in the fray.
Annu Rani will also compete in women's javelin throw while Abdulla Aboobacker and Jeswin Aldrin are in the men's triple and long jump entry lists, respectively.
Over 90 Indians will be in action at the Indian Open 2025 in Bhubaneswar, along with international athletes from 16 different countries.
A total of 17 medal events - nine for men and eight for women - will be held at the Indian Open 2025 World Athletics Bronze Level Continental Tour in Bhubaneswar.