New Delhi: The Athletics Federation of India announced here today a 17-member Indian team for the 2015 IAAF World Championships to be held in Beijing, from August 22-30.

The Indian team, comprising of 10 women and 7 athletes, will be competing in 9 different events in the IAAF Championships this year. The selection for the World Championships is based on the qualification standard set by the IAAF for all the events, which includes the individual as well as relay events.

For the 2015 IAAF World Championships, Indian athletes had qualified for 10 events. However, Rajinder Singh who made the IAAF qualification grades in the men’s javelin throw event, will not be able to make it to the Beijing Championships due to an injury at the Asian Grand Prix Series in Thailand earlier in June. The javelin thrower is currently undergoing medical tests for his recovery programme.

The Indian team for the IAAF World Championships will be leaving in batches from different cities as per the itinerary of their events to reduce the effect of travel exertion and better recovery from travel.

Ace discus thrower and reigning CWG champion Vikas Gowda will be reaching Beijing directly from his training centre in the US, while Asian champion in shot put Inderjeet Singh, the reigning Asian Games champion in women’s 4x400m relay members, 800m Asian champion and Asian Games medallist Tintu Luka (800m) have their scheduled departure from Delhi; the middle and long distance athletes, OP Jaisha, Sudha Singh (marathon) and Lalita Shivaji Babar (3000m steeplechase and marathon) will be leaving from Coimbatore which is closer to their high-altitude training centre in Ooty; while the two batches of race walkers in 20km and 50km events for both men and women will depart from Delhi and Bangalore respectively.

The famous Bird’s nest Stadium, best remembered as the centrepiece of 2008 Olympic Games, is expected to witness around 2,000 athletes from more than 207 countries competing, out of IAAF’s 214 member federations.