AFI chief urges NADA to be vigilant

Adille Sumariwalla wants NADA to be vigilant about “exceptional performances” at the inter-state athletics, particularly among those outside the national camp

Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille Sumariwalla urged the National Anti-Doping Agency to keep a watch on athletes giving “exceptional performances” within a short period, especially those who are not in the national camp, as the Asian Games approaches.

There have been some surprisingly top performances, including from some athletes who had not competed at a high level for some time (Getty Images)

“We’ve requested NADA to be more vigilant. It includes athletes who are not in the national camp. We have been constantly providing inputs to NADA,” Sumariwalla said in a media interaction at the inter-state athletics meet on Saturday.

There have been some surprisingly top performances, including from some athletes who had not competed at a high level for some time. This is the final selection trials for the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Some athletes have complained about the sapping conditions with temperature crossing 44 degrees Celsius and the humidity touching 90 percent in the last two days. Distance runners, race walkers and multiple-events athletes have particularly complained of exhaustion.

Sumariwalla, an ex-India sprinter himself, said it was time Indian athletes got used to such conditions. “The Asian Championships is in Bangkok in July. The conditions are going to be the same, high humidity. If they can’t qualify and run here, what will they do there? You see some of the results -- (women’s) 1500m (4:05) -- is a world class race.”

AFI had to advance the meet by a month because the Asian Games organisers wanted the final entries 75 days before the Games (September 23 to October 8). “It’s ridiculous. Normally the last day of entry is 15 days before. Even for Asian Championships we now need to send 45 days before.

“The winners are not complaining. At this time of the year where do you find a cooler place in India? Everybody is in the same boat in Asia. We give too much importance to these things. Throughout the year athletes train in Patiala, Trivandrum. How is it different from here? It's high time we get used to it mentally if we want to perform,” Sumariwalla said.

AFI’s grassroot scheme

Sumariwalla gave details of AFI’s junior talent programme. Over 900 shortlisted children (U-14 and U-16) will go through a series of assessment tests in six locations. These children have been selected from over 6000 participants in AFI's National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet held in Patna.

“We are going to adopt the 'Kids Athletics Programme' of World Athletics, which is a far more robust programme than we had in the past. The idea is at a tender age an athlete should not be doing specialisation and should not be overtrained.

“The new programme will ensure kids do agility, flexibility, strength, motor skills, such large-scale activities, not any particular event. They will be placed in SAI Training Centres (STCs).

AFI chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair said the assessment camp will be fun and play. Children would be tested for overall fitness and aptitude towards sports, besides age verification. “There is no limit to the number of children we would take for the programme,” said Nair.

Sumariwalla said only three percent of U17 world champions successfully make it to seniors. “So, we need to have a relook at the whole junior programme. We will have consultants from Germany and other countries to brainstorm and create the new junior programme.”

Nagapuri Ramesh, a senior Sports Authority of India (SAI) athletics coach, has been appointed head of the junior team. A high-performance director will also be appointed for the juniors.

Bid for U20 worlds

AFI has bid for the 2024 U20 World Championships, originally supposed to be held in Peru. “Peru pulled out due to political reasons but I believe now they have come back. We’ve already put in a bid. There are also four or five other countries. We are looking at Bhopal as a venue which is putting up brand new infrastructure. We have to wait for a final decision,” the AFI president said.

AFI is also searching for two javelin coaches for the seniors. “We are desperately looking. We have been in talks with a few European coaches. They don’t want to come and live in India for long periods. That is why we have sent one or two javelin throwers with Neeraj Chopra.”