Sudha, Preeja top contenders at the National Open Athletics meet

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A galaxy of Indian athletes with the likes of Asian Games gold medallists Sudha Singh, Preeja Sreedharan will aim to attain qualifying mark for the London Olympics when they compete in the 51st National Open Athletics Championships at Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.

A week back the same venue hosted the Argentina vs Venezueal international friendly that featured world's top footballer Lionel Messi.

The meet, however, will lack some sheen as Tintu Luka (800m), Gurmeet Singh (20km) and Vikas Gowda (discus throw) have opted to pull out.

In prime form, Sudha, who clinched the 3000m steeplechase gold in Guangzhou 2010, will look to make the cut as she will represent defending champions Railways in the four-day competition.

"Sudha has the best chance to attain the Olympic qualification mark from here. She is in peak of her form. Recently, she eclipsed her national record effort of 9:55.47 twice during practice in Bangalore. We are really hopeful of her," national Coach J S Bhatia said.

India's long distance queen Preeja Sreedharan and Kavita Raut, who will compete in 5,000m and 10,000m events for ONGC, however may have some difficulty to reach the qualifying marks for Olympics, Bhatia said.

"After the Asian Games triumph, Preeja had some continuity problems and the Kerala athlete is not in the peak of her form. It will take some time (for her) to get back to groove," he said.