116-member Indian contingent announced

Middle distance runner Sunita Rani, who is recovering from injury, has found a place in the 33-member Indian athletic squad for the Sydney Olympic Games.

With nine officials accompanying the athletes, it is the biggest component of the 116 member contingent, followed by the 20-member hockey team which includes four officials.

The squad, which includes 16 women athletes, will mainly be seen in action in the relay events. It is also the biggest ever athletic team to represent the country in the Olympics. Which is ironic, considering all the talk of limiting the size of the squad.

Interestingly, the four-member boxing team will have an equal number of officials with it, while the three-member weightlifting teams will be guided by four officials.

Asked how an injured athlete -- Sunita Rani -- has been included in the squad, chef de mission of the contingent Ashok Mattoo said that Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) has recommended her name. The AAFI is hopeful that Sunita will be fully fit by the time the athletic events start in the Olympics.

Veteran weightlifter, Kunjarani Devi does not figure in the list approved by the government.

The full squad:

Athletics Men: 4 x 100 m relay: Anil Kumar P, Rajiv Balakrishnan, C T Durai, Anand Menezes, Ajay Raj Singh, Piyush Kumar.

4x 400m relay: Anil Kumar Rohil, Paramjit Singh, P Ramachandran, Lijo David, Manoj Lal, Jata Shankar.

Long jump: Sanjay Kumar Rai. Discus: Anil Kumar. Javelin: Jagdish Bishnoi. Shot Put: Shakti Singh, Bahadur Singh.

Athletics women:

4 x 100m relay: Rachita Mistry, Vinita Tripathi, Anuradha Biswal, V Jayalakshmi, V Pandeswar, Saraswati Dey

4x 400 m: Paramjit Kaur, Jincy Philip, Manjuma Kuriakose, Rosa Kutty, K M Beena Mol, Soma Biswas

1500 m: Sunita Rani; Discuss: Neelam J Singh: Javelin: Gurmeet Kaur.

Heptathlon: G C Pramila and Soma Biswas

Coaches: Bahadur Singh, Harbans Singh, Andriy Shurepov, Yuriy Ogorodnik

Managers: M L Jaeam, A K Bannerjee; Doctoers: R Kaushal, Yuriy Boyko

Masseuse: Ms Inna Zveryeva

Badminton:

Pullela Gopi Chand, Aparna Popat. Coach: Syed Mohd Arif.

Boxing::

Soubarn Suresh Singh (48 kg), Ngangom Dingko Singh(56 kg), Jitender Kumar (75 kg) and Gurcharan Singh (81 kg).

Coaches: Blas Jose Iglesias Fernandez, Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu.

Manager: Rajesh Bhandari, Doctor: Ashok Ahuja.

Hockey:

Goalkeepers: Jude Menezes, Devashish Chauhan

Defenders: Dilip Kumar Tirkey, Dinesh Lakra, Lazarus Barla

Midfielders: Baljit Singh, Sukhbir Gill, Mohd. Riaz Nabi, Selvaraj

Thirumal Valavan, Ramandeep Grewal (Captain)

Forwards: Mukesh Kumar, Dhanraj Pillay, Baljit Singh, Mohd Sameer Dad, Deepak Thakur Solanki and Gagan Ajit Singh.

Coaches: Vasudevan Bhaskran, Harendra Singh, Manager: Jothikumaran.

Doctor: PK Ramesh

Judo:

Laurembam Brojeshwari Devi (52 kg). Coach: Narender Singh.

Rowing:

Inderpal Singh, Kasam Khan (coxless pair); Coach: Theodore Joseph Bonnano; Manager C P Singh Deo

Shooting:

(Men) Anwar Sultan (trap), Abhinav Bindra (10 m air rifle), (women): Anjali Ved Pathak (air rifle).

Coaches: Marcello Dradi, Laszlo Szucsuk. Armourer: Dhiren Bhatia.

Swimming:

(Men) Hakimuddin Shabbir Habibulla (200m free style)

(Women) Nisha Millet (200 m free style). Coach: Kanti Vardhan Sharma.

Table Tennis:

(Men): Raman Subramaniam, Chetan Baboor

(Women): Poulomi Ghatak. Coach: Samal Villivalam Sunder.

Tennis:

Leander Adrian Paes; Mahesh Bhupathi.

Coach: Ramesh Krishnan, Doctor: Vece Paes.

Weightlifting:

(Men) Thandava Murthy Muthu; (Women) T Baijan Sanamacha Chanu, Karnam Malleswari.

Coaches: Pal Singh Sandhu, Leonid Taranenka.

Manager: Balbir Singh

Doctor: Andrei Semenikov.

Wrestling:

Gurbinder Singh (63 kg); Coach: Randhir Singh

IOA Officials: Chef de Mission: Ashok Kumar Mattoo; Deputy Chef de Mission Deputy: V M Dutta; Treasurer: Mrs Amrit Bose.

Support staff: Brig (Rtd) N B Singh, ASV Prasad, M S Bains, Virender Baloni, Sandeep Mehta, Sunita Garware, Bruce Baird and Vijay Kumar.

UNI