Key athletics meets in South to cut down travel

Express News Service

CHENNAI:  Selecting a venue that would not involve too much travelling for elite athletes during Covid times was one of the major challenges before the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) finalised the calendar for the next season. Since most of the athletes are training in Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram, the AFI clubbed the first few national competitions including the Indian Grand Prix in the south — Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.  

“We don’t want our athletes to travel too much that’s why we kept all the major national events in the south,” said AFI president Adille Sumariwalla. “We had to keen in mind the athletes who are training abroad and when it would be convenient for them to come here and participate.” 

After Neeraj Chopra’s javelin gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last year, the AFI has turned its attention on throws in general and javelin in particular. August 7, the date when Neeraj won the gold, will host the 1st National Javelin competition. The federation is also concentrating on jumps event as they announced the 1st National Jumps Competitions on March 1 in Thiruvananthapuram. 

With the World Championships in Oregon from July 15, focus would be on the senior inter-state national championships to be held in Chennai from June 10 to 14. Not that too many athletes would qualify but it would be the last domestic competition before qualification date of June 26.  Kerala will host most of the competitions in the beginning of the season. The first Indian Grand Prix will be on March 13 at Thiruvananthapuram where the sprinters and quartermilers are training. 

This will be followed by the second GP on March 23. The Federation Cup senior nationals is slated for April 2 to 6 in Calicut. The Open nationals will be held in Jamshedpur between October 15 to 19 after the Asian Games.

Other major events
Indian Open Race Walking: April 16-17 in Ranchi. Indian Open Javelin throw competition: April 23-24. Indian Grand Prix 3 and 4: May 18 and 25 in Madurai. Indian Grand Prix 5 and 6: August 7 and 10 in Bengaluru. Indian Open 400m competition: October 1-2 in Jamshedpur. National Youth Athletics Championships: September 23-25 in Bhopal. National Inter-district junior athletics meet: November 25-27 (venue TBD. National Junior Athletics Championships: November 11-15 in GUwahati.