Change in U-16 pentathlon
The pentathlon event for under-16 boys in national-level athletics competitions will see a change from this year, with 100M hurdles being replaced by the 100M flat race.
The change was among several approved by the Athletics Federation of India’s technical committee at its meeting last month.“We were following the women’s scoring tables to allot points in the 100M hurdles as there is no scoring table for men in the 100M hurdles. Since it is not the proper way, we decided to change the events,” said a technical committee member.
Pentathlon will thus include 100M , high jump, shot put, long jump and 800 metres.
AFI will also follow the international pattern in youth events (under-18), where an athlete can compete in 100-200 and 200-400 combinations but not 400-800 or 800-1500.
There will be a change in the weight of the implements being used for youth girls hammer throw and shot put events, with 3-kg hammer and shot replacing the existing 4-kg ones. The International Association of Athletics Federations had decided to make the change at its technical committee meeting in Daegu during the World Championships last year.
The AFI panel also decided to adopt the international rule which bars any under-16 competitor from taking part in senior events.
The technical committee has proposed that the inter-district competitions -- currently for under-16 and under-14 athletes -- be made exclusively for under-14 athletes, besides delinking the under-14 and under-16 events from the Junior Nationals.
At present, the conduct of the Junior Nationals often becomes a chaotic affair, with a plethora of events from under-14 to under-20 events to be completed in a limited time. It is also a logistical nightmare for the organisers.
“Staging U-14 and U-16 events separately will be helpful in smoother organisation of the event, besides solving logistical issues,” said the official. These proposals, however, need to be approved by AFI’s general body before it can be implemented.
