37th National Games athletes Akshdeep Singh had set a new national race-walking record in the 20km event at the National Open Race Walking Championships in February 2023. His timing of 1:19:55 then had also helped him qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024. (Photo via Instagram/akshdeep__dhillon)

The National Games has followed an erratic schedule on the Indian sporting calendar. Over the last decade, just three editions of the event could be held, while most others were either cancelled or rescheduled for varied reasons. However, it received a much-needed fillip in 2022, when Gujarat put on a commendable show to revive the event after seven years. At those Games, the best female athlete award went to Hashika Ramachandra, a budding swimmer from Bengaluru, who picked up six gold and a bronze. At the time, she was just 14 years old. And last month, Ramachandra went on to represent India at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. It tells you just why the National Games needs to be a regular annual feature.

As the 37th edition gets underway in Goa, it promises to unravel a competitive field featuring established names and young talent. There’s a few Olympians in the fray like rifle shooter Anjum Moudgil, swimmer Srihari Nataraj and fencer CA Bhavani Devi. Then, there are those who’ve put on a memorable show this year such as long jumper Ancy Sojan and rifle shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar – both silver medallists at the Asian Games. And exciting teenagers, weightlifter Markio Tario Rughu and swimmer Aneesh Gowda, besides old horses like pistol shooter Rahi Sarnobat, who will be hoping to be back at her best.

Moneycontrol looks at ten names to keep an eye out for in the coming days.

1. Manu DP, Javelin throw

In the shadow of Neeraj Chopra, Manu DP has been a quiet performer over the last few years. At the Khelo India Games in 2018, the Karnataka athlete had thrown a distance of 68 metres to take gold. But under coach Kashinath Naik, he has been making rapid gains, routinely breaching the 80-metre mark to achieve a personal best of 84.35 metres last year. In July, he took silver at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok and a couple of months later, finished a commendable sixth at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Earlier this month at the National Open Athletics Championships, the 23-year-old defended his title with a new meet record and will look to sign off a memorable year with another win against his name.

2. Akshdeep Singh, Race walking

In August 2022, Akshdeep Singh failed to find a spot on the Commonwealth Games contingent. By February this year, he had set a new national record en route victory in the 20km event at the National Open Race Walking Championships in Ranchi. His timing of 1:19:55 also helped him qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024. More significantly, it made him the first Indian athlete to go below the 1 hour 20 minute mark. The following month, he picked up gold at the Asian 20km Race Walking Championships in Nomi. After getting disqualified at the Asian Athletics Championships in July, he missed out on the Asian Games due to injury. The Punjab athlete will be raring to go once again to get back to his best.

3. Swapnil Kusale, Rifle shooting

Through most of the 50-metre rifle-3 positions individual final at the Asian Games, Swapnil Kusale had led the field. Then, things fell apart in a jiffy as he dropped to the fourth position with a 7.6. And to his dismay, it stayed that way as Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar was celebrated for his silver. Kusale did manage a team gold in the same event, but the heartbreak was evident. It was the closest he had come to clinching an individual gold at the world stage since a silver at the World Cup in Baku last year.

The Maharashtra shooter will look to set it aside and take aim once again alongside a competitive field that also features his teammates from the Asian Games, Akhil Sheoran and Tomar. And this time around, he’ll be looking to get the job done.

4. Aneesh Gowda, Swimming

Last year at the National Games, an unfancied teenager beat seasoned Olympian Sajan Prakash in the 200 metre freestyle final. Aneesh Gowda was just 18 at the time. Since then, it has taken him little time to establish himself as part of the national team. Though the swimming contingent returned empty-handed from the Asian Games, the teenager was part of the 4x200m freestyle relay squad that rewrote the national record. This year alone, Gowda has registered five individual personal bests (50m, 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle and 200m medley). With Karnataka favourites to dominate the pool, the 19-year-old is certain to be among the medals as he looks to attain the qualification mark for the Olympics next year.

With Karnataka favourites to dominate the pool, Aneesh Gowda, 19, is certain to be among the medals. (Photo via Instagram/aneeshgowda04)

5. Ancy Sojan, Long jump

During the women’s long jump final at the Asian Games, all eyes were on Shaili Singh to be on the podium. Instead, it was Ancy Sojan who took silver after registering a personal best of 6.63 metres. It was only last year that the Kerala athlete made a permanent switch to the long jump after featuring in sprint distances in the past. She had a dismal performance at the Commonwealth Games where she finished 14th with a jump of 6.25 metres. But in 2023, the 22-year-old has been a revelation. She won the Indian Grand Prix, the Federation Cup and the Inter State Athletics Championships, while in July, she narrowly missed out on a medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok after finishing fourth. Riding on her Asian Games success, Sojan will be leaping for gold next week.

6. Rahi Sarnobat, Pistol shooting

A veteran in the world of shooting, Rahi Sarnobat has seen it all. She’s a Commonwealth Games and an Asian Games gold medallist, and has also won multiple medals at World Cups. Of late, she has braved a slump in form due to a neurological condition which put her out of contention in the national scheme of things. But the shooter from Maharashtra is known to be a fighter – at the range and now also off it. On a comeback trail, she won the 25 metre pistol title at a domestic competition in Bhopal in June, where she got the better of young sensation, Esha Singh, in the final. With Indian pistol shooting dominated by teenagers these days, Sarnobat has a long way back to the top. And she’ll need all her experience to get there, one target at a time.

7. Komalika Bari, Recurve archery

As a junior, Komalika Bari made the world sit up and take note of her abilities after winning the Cadet and Junior World Championships in 2019 and 2021, respectively. She was fast-tracked to the senior team ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, but eventually failed to make the cut. Transitioning to the senior level has been a struggle for the recurve archer from Jamshedpur. Save a team bronze at the World Cup in Gwangju in South Korea last year, Bari has had little to show for the early promise she had displayed. The current recurve team that picked up bronze at the Asian Games is a work-in-progress. It leaves the field wide open for the likes of Bari to get back on track ahead of the Paris Olympics next year.

8. E David Beckham, Cycling

His performance drew as much attention as his name, after David Beckham Elkatohchoongo became the first Indian cyclist to make the quarterfinal of a sprint event at the Asian Games. He eventually finished eighth to sign off a memorable debut. Hailing from the cycling hub of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Beckham first made his mark by winning gold at the Khelo India Youth Games in 2020. He was soon part of the national set-up in New Delhi alongside other youngsters such as Esow Alben, Ronaldo Laitonjam and Rojit Singh Yaanglem. This quartet proved their worth at the Asian Track Cycling Championships last year when they picked up bronze in the team sprint. And the idea of watching these young guns line up alongside each other for once makes the sprint event a mouthwatering prospect.

9. Archana Kamath, Table tennis

In April last year, Archana Kamath broke into the top-5 of the women’s world doubles ranking after picking up bronze at the WTT Star Contender in Doha alongside her partner, Manika Batra. But in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she made news for all the wrong reasons after she was dropped from the squad. It’s taken patient rebuilding on her part to put the setback aside and focus on the game. She switched base from Bengaluru to Noida to train under Anshul Garg and gradually started getting the results again. At the Senior Nationals in March, the 23-year-old teamed up with Manav Thakkar to take gold in the mixed doubles. Then in July, she stunned World No. 39 Suthasini Sawettabut of Thailand during the fourth season of Ultimate Table Tennis. Expect more of the same as Kamath tries to reclaim her space on the national front.

10. Marko Tario Rughu, Weightlifting

In just seven years since he took to the sport, Marko Tario Rughu has come a long way. The weightlifter from Arunachal Pradesh has been a consistent performer at the national stage ever since his debut at the Khelo India School Games in 2018, where he picked up bronze in the 65kg category. Here on, a silver and gold in consecutive editions of the event was enough for him to be enlisted as part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme. However, nerves got the better of him during his maiden international appearance last year. At the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain, he finished sixth in the 67kg category. At the Senior National Championship in Tamil Nadu in January this year, the 18-year-old bounced back to take silver and bronze. He has been honing his skills at the Army Sports Institute in Pune and will look to continue his progress against the more experienced lifters in his weight category.

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• Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/sports/national-games-2023-10-players-to-watch-across-sportsjavelin-throw-to-swimmingtable-tennis_17285691.html