AFI to hold two Indian GP meets in May

The Athletics Federation of India has decided to pencil in two national Grand Prix meets in May to compensate for the scrapping of Asian GP events while also advancing the crucial inter-State meet by two weeks.

The Asian Athletics Association, in its Council meeting in Doha early this month, decided not to hold any Grand Prix series this year and it led to AFI reworking on the calendar which has not originally provided for any national GP event this year.

“In view of the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games this year, we have decided to have two Indian Grand Prix events on May 17 and 20 in Patiala to give the athletes more competition. We are working on details like how many events each GP will have,” a top AFI official told PTI.

The AFI has also decided to hold the National inter-State senior championships, which will also be the selection trials for July 23-August 3 Commonwealth Games, in Lucknow from June 5-8 instead of the earlier June 18-22 schedule.

“We have decided to advance the National inter-State in Lucknow from June 18-22 to June 5-8,” the official said.

The new dates for National inter-State senior athletics championships would suit some athletes, especially middle and long-distance runners training under Belarussian coach Nikolai Snesarev, who would be going for a 21-day foreign training stint from June 16.The official also said that whoever goes for foreign training will have to take part in the National Inter-State Senior Championships to get selected for the Commonwealth Games.