World Athletics Championships 2023: India's Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Tejaswin Shankar pull out

Asian shot-put champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Commonwealth Games medalist high jumper Tejaswin Shankar will not take part in the upcoming World Athletics Championships 2023, to be held in Budapest, Hungary from August 19 to 27.

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Tajinderpal Singh Toor has pulled out of the World Athletics Championships 2023 as he is recovering from a groin injury. Tejinder had suffered this injury during the Asian Championships in July. He heaved 20.23m to win the gold medal but sustained the injury during the event. Tajinderpal had qualified for the world championships with an Asian record-setting throw of 21.77m at the inter-state championships in Bhubaneswar in June. It will be the second straight world championships Tajinderpal Singh Toor will miss due to injury. The Indian shot putter withdrew from last year's edition at Eugene at the eleventh hour due to a groin injury.

Meanwhile, national record holder in high jump Tejaswin Shankar, 800m runner KM Chanda and 20 km walker Priyanka Goswami (national record holder) have also decided not to play in the World Athletics Championships 2023. They pulled out to focus on the Hangzhou Asian Games, scheduled to be held from September 23 to October 8. Moreover, javelin thrower Rohit Yadav suffered an elbow injury last month and is also out of the contingent.

Tejaswin Shankar, who also competes in men's decathlon, qualified for the men's high jump event for the world athletics championships through world rankings. Tejaswin Shankar is India's national record holder in high jump.

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India's 28-member contingent for the World Athletics Championships 2023 will be led by Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra. The Indian javelin thrower ended India's 19-year-long wait for a medal at the World Athletics Championships with a silver in the men's javelin throw event in Oregon last year. Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and steeplechaser Avinash Sable will also be in action.