Asian Athletics Championships 2017: Six gold medal prospects for India

New Delhi: More than 800 athletes will take part in the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships which starts tomorrow at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

The four-day long meet will witness as many as 95 Indian athletes competing against the best in Asia. India finished a credible third, with 13 medals - four gold, five silver and four bronze) in the previous edition held at Wuhan, China in 2015.

This time too, India are looking for a good show, with experts predicting at least five gold medals in the continental competition.

Here are our six gold medals prospects:

Neeraj Chopra (Men's javelin throw): He is the latest sensation in Indian athletics. The teen javelin thrower from Panipat finished fifth in his first ever senior competition, at the Paris leg of Diamond League, last week with a throw of 84.67m.

But the world junior champion, with his personal best of 86.48m, will be the one to beat in Bhubaneswar. In the last edition, Huang Shih-Feng (TPE) won the gold medal with a throw of 79.74m.

Manpreet Kaur (Women's shot put): She is one the top shot putters in the world now. After producing season's best throw of 18.86m at first leg of the Asian Grand Prix in Jinhua in April, the 26-year-old is primed to win her first big medal.

The national champion, in fact, can mount India's challenge for a top-three finish with a gold-medal winning performance tomorrow itself. In the previous edition, China dominated the event by winning all three medals with Guo Tianqian (CHN) taking the gold with a throw of 18.59m.

Mohammad Anas (Men's 400m): In May, Kerala quarter-miler smashed the national record at the third leg of the Indian Grand Prix Athletics Meet in Delhi. His timing of 45.32 seconds, produced in hot and humid conditions, forced detractors to acknowledge his efforts. And the Bhubaneswar meet is the perfect stage for the 22-year-old to announce his arrival in the international stage.

Thanks to that performance, he has already qualified for the World Championships, but a gold medal in front of home crowd would be as good as any world title. Abdelilah Haroun Hassan (QAT) won the gold medal in the last edition with a timing of 44.68s.

Vikas Gowda (Men's discuss throw): He is the grand old man of Indian athletics. Having turned 34 today, Gowda will look to defend his title after the Athletics Federation of India cleared his name for the event. The bone of contention was, his recent poor form. It's reported that he was hovering around 58m in recent outings.

He is the two-time defending champion, with throws of 64.90m in Pune in 2013 and 62.03m in 2015.

Women's 4x400m relay: This is one event, India can always bank on, at least in the Asian circuit. In the previous edition, the Indian team quartet of Jisna Mathew, Tintu Luka, Debashree Majumdar and Machettira Raju Poovamma finished settled for the second place, behind the Chinese.

This time, at home, the team of Nirmala, Poovamma, Jisna Mathew, Vijayakumari GK, Sarita Ben Gayakwad and Debashree Mazumdar will hope to turn the tables. Nirmala, Luka and Poovarma were parts of the team which won the gold in Pune.

Tintu Luka (Women's 800m): She is still India's best bet in the track events. The 28-year-old heir apparent to legendary PT Usha might have failed to live up to her expectations, but can produce blistering runs.

Her season's best of 2:03:59 is well below her 2015 gold medal winning effort of 2:01.53, but the national record holder will be the one to beat in Bhubaneswar.

Unluckily for India, women's 3000m steeplechase defending champion Lalita Babar will not be in the event. The 28-year-old has taken time off after her recent marriage.