New Delhi: The Indian Athletics team left here today in the early hours to participate in the Asian Indoor Championships in Doha, aiming to improve their medal tally and with an eye on clinching qualification berths for the 2016 Olympics.

The 17-member Indian athletics team for the Continental Indoor Championships, including 9 men and 8 women athletes, is a blend of experience and promising youngsters. Led by Asian champion in long jump, Mayookha Johny, the reigning champion in the men’s shot put, Omprakash Kharana, and the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games record holder in high jump, Tejaswin Shankar, the Indian team will be participating in a total of 12 events at the 7th Asian Indoor Championships to be held at the Aspire Academy Sports complex, Al Henaizbiah St, Doha, from February 19-21.

India won just one gold medal from four participants in the previous edition which was held in Hangzhou, China. This time, the Indian athletes will be competing in a total of 12 events, including six events in the men (800m, 3000m, high jump, long jump, triple jump and shot put) and six events in women (60m, 60mH, 1500m, high jump, long jump and shot put).

On this occasion, the AFI President and Olympian, Mr Adille J. Sumariwalla, said, “The 7th Asian Indoor Championship is an important competition for our team to qualify for the Rio Olympics and also get good competition exposure for their build-up for other future competitions. I’m thankful to the Sports Authority of India and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for supporting the participation of our athletes and I’m confident that the team will utilise the opportunity to the hilt.”

Recently, the Indian Team topped the medal tally in the SAF Games with 58 medals, including 28 Gold medals. The 2015 Asian Grand Prix Series silver medallist in long jump, Ankit Sharma, Asian championships silver medallist in triple jump, Renjith Maheswari and Mayookha Johny went on to create new SAF Games record and the trio are now all set for the Doha Championships.