New Delhi: The Athletics Federation of India on Thursday announced a 34-member India Junior Athletics Team for the Asian Junior Championship to be held at Taipei City from June 12-15, 2014.

The Indian team will be spearheaded by 2013 Asian Athletics Championships bronze medalist in 200 metres sprint Dutee Chand, upcoming thrower Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, both of them who impressed in the recently-concluded Federation Cup Junior National Championships in Chennai. In the boys section, discus thrower Sachin, who created a new National junior record with a throw of 58.11 metres in the Chennai meet, shot putter Navtejdeep Singh and Shakti Solanki will lead the Indian campaign.

The Selection Committee had set the third-place position mark/timing of the previous edition of the Junior Asian Championship held at Colombo as the criteria for selection to the India team for the 2014 Championship. The 2014 Junior Federation Cup National Championships served as the performance meet for the selection of the India Junior team. The selection committee also took into consideration the harsh weather condition which prevailed during the Chennai meet, for the team selection.

On this occasion, Chief coach and Dronacharya award winner JS Bhatia said, “The Asian Junior Championships will be the biggest platform for most of these athletes in the team baring a few like Dutee Chand, who have already made a mark on the international stage. The youngsters are raring for the challenge and will go flat out to win medals.”

Former Asian Games double gold medalists Jyotirmoyee Sikdar will be the manager of the India Junior team for the prestigious meet while the legendary PT Usha will add strength to the coaching staff as the sprint coach. N Ramesh for sprint, Renu Kohli for middle and long distance and Jaspal Singh for throws, are the other coaches with the team.

Team: Boys: 1. Sharwan Kharb (5000m) 2. Jitender Kumar (5000m) 3. Anuj (pole vault). 4 Madhusudan Yadav (pole vault) 5. Sumit Chaudhary (triple jump) 6. Navtejdeep Singh (shot put) 7. Shakti Solanki (shot put) 8. Sachin (discus throw) 9. Kapil Mann (hammer throw) 10. Prakash Singh (hammer throw) 11. Parvinder Kumar (javelin throw) 12. Gyanesh Pathak (javelin throw) 13. Ankit Saini (decathlon) 14. Amolak Singh (decathlon) 15. Arjun Khokhar (4X400m relay and 800m) 16. Karmberdeep Singh (4X400m relay) 17. R. Mohan Kumar (4X400m relay) 18. Lokdeep Kabiraj (4X400m relay) 19. Parmvir Singh (400m hurdles & 4X400m relay). 20 Karan Rathi (10,000m walk).

Girls: 1. Dutee Chand (100m & 200m , 4x400m Relay), 2. Himashree Roy (200m), 3. Jessy Joseph (800m & 4x400m Relay), 4. Archana Adhav (800m & 4x400m Relay), 5. Meghana Shetty (100MH), 6. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (Shot Put & Discus Throw), 7. Anushi Desai (Discus Throw), 8. Kumari Sharmila (Javelin Throw), 9. Swapana Barman (Heptathlon), 10. Pinki (1500m), 11. Vijaya Kumari (4x400m Relay), 12. Jisha V.V. (4x400m Relay), 13. Neetu Sabu (4x400m Relay), 14. Sanjivini Jadhav (3000m, 5000m).

Coaches: Chief coach – JS Bhatia, N Ramesh (sprint coach), PT Usha (sprint coach), Renu Kohli (middle and long distance), Jaspal Singh (throws coach).

Manager: Jyotirmoyee Sikdar.