LUCKNOW, Sept. 2 -- It was a tough time for one of India's top ace walkers Ram Baboo, who even after qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics, missed out on a berth as each country was allowed only three berths and he finished fourth. That memory is still fresh in the mind of this Uttar Pradesh athlete, who now gears up to fulfill his dream of making a podium finish at the upcoming World Athletics Championship, starting September 13 in Tokyo. He has been training hard at the national camp at Bengaluru since this July and is excited too to make his presence felt. Ram Baboo, who hails from Bahuara village in Sonbhadra, has been part of the 19-member Indian squad for the Tokyo event. He also happens to be the one amongst seven from Uttar Pradesh for the Worlds. Others are: Gulveer Singh (5,000/10,000m), Rohit Yadav (javelin), Sachin Yadav (javelin), Parul Chaudhary (3000m steeplechase), Annu Rani (javelin) and Priyanka Goswami (walker). "I still remember how I missed a participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but this isn't going to be like the last time, as now I am well prepared to give my best at the Tokyo meet," said Ram Baboo on Monday. "First, I will aim for a good race as I know that once I get my rhythm, it will be easy for me to make a podium finish. I know that competition will be tough, but I am ready to face challenges," he said, adding, "Feeling excited to participate in the Tokyo Worlds and there is no pressure on me to face the world's greatest in the event." Ram Baboo first shot into the limelight by establishing a new national record (2:29:56 sec) in the men's 35 km race walk event at the 2022 National Games in India before winning a bronze medal in the team 35 km race walk event at the 2022 Asian Games. Qualification of Varanasi's Rohit for the World Championship turned out to be quite dramatic as well as historic also as for the first time as many as four javelin throwers, including defending champion Neeraj Chopra, are participating in the event. Normally, any country can send a maximum of three athletes to the World Championships but since Neeraj is the defending champion, India has one extra quota in javelin. From the very beginning, only Sachin and Yash were expected to make the cut after Neeraj, but on the last day of the qualification window, Rohit recorded a personal best of 83.65m at the Inter-State Athletics Championships in Chennai, winning gold. In fact, that gold put him in contention as he gained ranking points, but when the World Athletics announced the final ranking list, he was one point short of qualification and a late withdrawal by higher-ranked Manu Quijera meant that Rohit was invited for the event, making it four Indians for the first time. "I am happy and excited to be able to go to Tokyo. I missed it last time due to an injury. It has been tough for me to return and rehab but the hard work paid off. I will try my best to throw another personal best in Tokyo," Rohit said. Another javelin thrower from Uttar Pradesh, Sachin Yadav did his best to make it to the Indian team. A recruiter of Uttar Pradesh Police, Sachin, who hails from village Khekra in Baghpat district, won a gold medal at this year's 38th National Games at Dehradun with a personal best and meet record throw of 84.39 meters. This wasn't all as he went on winning silver medal with a personal best of 85.16m, missing the gold medal by just 1.24m, won by the then Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem at the 26th Asian Athletics Championships, but finished fourth with a throw of 82.33 metre at the inaugural edition of the Neeraj Chopra Classic recently. "This is the biggest lot from Uttar Pradesh at the World Championship in the history of Uttar Pradesh athletics since its existence in 1965," UP Athletics Association's former secretary, PK Srivastava said on Monday. "Our athletes have been a regular presence in the Olympics and have won medals at the Asian and Commonwealth Games in the past, but now we can hope for medals at the World Championship also," he added....