AFI to set qualifying standards in advance

In the light of the controversies that rocked the selection of the Indian team for the World Championships, the Athletics Federation of India has decided to set qualifying standards well in advance for the upcoming big meets, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games next year.

The non-selection of P U Chitra for the London Worlds in August had triggered a furore and the AFI move could be seen as an attempt to avoid the recurrence of such issues in the future. The AFI had set qualifying standards in the past too but has not strictly adhered to those marks when selecting the teams.

The AFI’s Planning, Coaching, Monitoring and Implementation Committee had met in Patiala last week to review the Indians’ performances at the Worlds and chalk out the programme for the future. It conceded that the performances were poor.

“AFI is not satisfied with the performance of most of the athletes at the IAAF World Championships and it is being mentioned clearly to the Chief Coach Bahadur Singh. The performance of our athletes was poor,” the AFI President Adille Sumariwalla said.

“The working of coaches will be strictly monitored and coaches will be held accountable for the performances of the athletes. The targets for athletes will also be set in advance and those attaining qualifying standards set by AFI for Asian Games and CWG 2018 will be selected in the team. Our focus is on Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Winning medals at Asian competitions and area championships is not enough,” he said.

The committee also identified events to focus on at the Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast, Australia April 4-15, 2018) and Asian Games (Jakarta, Indonesia August 18-September 2, 2018). Javelin, 400M, 4x400M relay and long jump are among the priority events.

The committee also decided to provide the list of athletes training outside national camps to the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).