Athletics Federation of India to discuss participation in international competitions

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will discuss its participation in the upcoming Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in February among other international competitions next year.

Due to a surging wave of Omicron COVID-19 cases, the AFI has admitted competing in international events might be challenging.

It has since said it will discuss its plans for the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, due to be the 10th edition of the event in Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan from February 11 to 13.

"We will have a meeting with the coaches in January and take a call on whether to send athletes to compete at the 2022 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Kazakhstan in February," said AFI President Adille Sumariwalla.

The Championships will act as a qualifier for the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade in Serbia in March.

Other key events on the horizon are the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in the summer, the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou in China and the World Athletics Championships in Eugene in the United States from July 15 to 24.

Sumariwalla also admitted other events could prove problematic, including the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi in Japan in March.

"We have to wait and see how the pandemic situation is during the month of March in Japan," he said. 

"We can’t predict whether the national team will compete at this moment."

At present, Indian athletes are training across a range of camps throughout the country.

Tokyo 2020 javelin gold medalist Neeraj Chopra is training in the US and may subsequently find it easier to compete in international events.

posted Monday December 27th
by Andrew Dowdeswell