Anju Bobby George, who bettered her own women's long jump mark by nine centimetres while finishing sixth at the Athens Olympics, has skipped the September 10-12 Open National Athletics Championship, to be held in Mumbai.

Also missing from the fray are two athletes who were part of the Indian contingent in Greece, high jumper Bobby Aloysius and quarter-miler K M Binu, who too set a national mark while qualifying for the semi-finals in the men's 400 metres at Athens.

Anju and Binu are taking part in meets post-Athens in Europe, while Aloysius, also a national record holder, has not given any reason for cold-shouldering the meet, former sprint champion and organising secretary of the meet Adille Sumariwalla told a press conference on Friday.

J J Shobha, who braved a knee ligament injury and severe pain to complete the grueling women's heptathlon at the Olympics, has entered through her employers, Indian Railways.

Shot-putter Bahadur Singh, who returned from Athens after fouling all his throws, is among the list of athletes who have entered the event, being hosted in Mumbai after 11 years.

All other athletes who were in Athens, barring injured discus thrower Anil Kumar, have entered.

The three-day meet has attracted over 600 athletes, from 18 states and six sports control boards and is being organized by the Bombay City District Amateur Athletic Association.

"Electronic timers and photo finish cameras will be used for track events, but for throwing events, measuring tapes would be used," Sumariwalla said, adding all winners will be dope tested by Sports Authority of India officials.

Asked why the archaic inch tapes are still being used in such major meets, Sumariwalla said modern equipment for measuring throws is not available.

Asked to clarify whether only the gold medallists or all three medal winners would be dope-tested, Sumariwalla pleaded ignorance.

"All we have got is a letter from the SAI saying they would be testing the winners as well as conducting random dope tests," he added.

The organisers will reward athletes who set an Asian mark Rs 50,000 while those breaking an Indian record would be richer by Rs 20,000.

Maharashtra athletes winning a title will get Rs 5,000.

There will be morning and evening sessions on all three days of the meet. Standard Chartered Bank is the main sponsor.

The meet will be telecast 'live' by Doordarshan.