India’s fastest sprinters this season will miss Continental Tour meet and Inter-State Competition
India’s two fastest sprinters this season —Gurindervir Singh and Manikanta Hoblidhar—are out of action for at least a minimum of four weeks.
Singh is recovering from a skin ailment and Hoblidhar has an injury issue. The duo will miss the upcoming National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Chennai from August 20 to 24. They will also not complete in Continental Tour Bronze level meet here. “Since I’m recovering from a bout of skin allergy suffered during a recent tour to Europe, training hasn’t gone on expected lines,” Singh told Sportsbackstory.com over the phone from Mumbai. “I’m on medication and it will take time for me to get back to regain my fitness.”
Hoblidhar says he pulled an abductor muscle and can’t compete at the moment. “I’m not fit and will skip the upcoming domestic meet in Chennai,” reveals Hoblidhar.
Both Singh and Hoblidhar are based out of Mumbai and practice at Reliance Academy.
Since they are unfit, they will skip this weekend’s World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze level competition here in Bhubaneswar on August 10.
At the beginning of the season, Singh from Punjab was flying on the track. He improved the men’s national 100m record to 10.20 seconds in March. Later the record was bettered by Animesh Kujur (10.18 seconds).
Singh was also a member of a quartet that improved the long standing national 4x100mrelay record to 38.69 seconds. Hoblidhar, Amlan Borgohain and Kujur were other members of the record-breaking relay team at the domestic meet in Chandigarh in April. The previous 4x100m relay record of 38.89 seconds was set at 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Singh’s plans to further lower his own national record didn’t happen. Instead of getting better, he failed to impress.
Hoblidhar clocked an excellent time of 10.22 seconds to finish second behind Singh at a domestic meet in Bengaluru in March. However, as the season progressed the Army runner failed to impress and repeat his March performance.
Singh and Hoblidhar were shadow of their former self at the World University Games held in July in Germany. Both claimed they weren’t enjoying good health and weren’t able to perform.
Country’s top sprinters are currently practicing at Reliance Academy in Mumbai. The main goal is to prepare the national 4x100m relay team for the 2026 season that will feature Asian Games, AFI (Athletics Federation of India) says.
