Karnataka's Vikas Gowda to miss Asian Championships for poor performance?

Reigning champion discus thrower Vikas Gowda may not be able to defend his title at the Asian Athletics Championships In the trials, he could muster a 57.79m effort which disappointed some of the coaches Vikas holds the national record of 66.28m in discus throw

Reigning champion discus thrower Vikas Gowda may not be able to defend his title at the Asian Athletics Championships beginning on July 6, 2017. In the trials, he could muster a 57.79m effort which disappointed some of the coaches.

The 34-year-old from Mysuru holds the national record of 66.28m. He had to go through a trial before the championships since the Athletics Federation of India wanted to check his fitness levels.

However, the AFI coaches were not happy with Gowda's below-par performance.

PTI quoted an AFI official saying, “Some of the coaches are not satisfied with Gowda’s performance. His 57.79m placed him at seventh or eighth if you saw the final results of the last edition in Wuhan in 2015. So, it will be difficult for Gowda to be given an entry to the championships.” 

The AFI was also happy with Gowda’s flop show at the Rio Olympics where he failed to qualify for the final round. Just a few months before the Olympics, the federation was told about a shoulder injury which was said to be a minor one, but the AFI felt that he had not given the exact picture of his injury.

26-year-old national record holder 110m hurdler Siddhanth Thingalaya, based in the US also went through trials for the Asian Athletics Championships. He clocked 13.48 seconds in the Altis Invitational at Phoenix in Arizona recently.