The Athletics Federation of India has officially moved to decentralise its training camps, doing away with the earlier system of national camps which allows athletes the freedom to train on their own at a centre of their choice.
The decision was ratified after its two-day AGM concluded in Chandigarh on Wednesday. The plan had been devised in 2024 itself and was to be executed after the Paris Olympics.
The Hindu had first reported on it in June last year during the Inter-State Championships.
“We have given the athletes the liberty to train at their preferred centres — Army Sports Institute, Reliance, JSW, Tamil Nadu and Odisha government all have their own training facilities with foreign coaches,” outgoing AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said on Wednesday.
Sumariwalla will continue to be the official spokesperson for the federation.
“Only the 400m sprinters will train together at the Trivandrum SAI-National Centre of Excellence because they will also be part of the relay teams and our policy of not including outsiders in relays continues. But there is no disbanding of any team. Those who have agreed to train at Trivandrum are welcome. What we had said earlier was that athletes who are not happy with some of the coaches can leave and we will be including fresh talent,” he added.
As per reports, National 400m record holder Muhammad Anas is among those who have decided to train separately and will no longer be part of the relay team going forward.
Sumariwalla also explained the process behind training with foreign coaches. “We will give athletes’ names to the NCOEs on the basis of their preference. We will have certain foreign coaches in certain centres and athletes who wish to train with them can go to those centres. We have also formulated guidelines on how all athletes will have to come to camps for the last eight weeks before major international competitions,” he said.
He also said that the AFI was looking at indoor competitions at the newly built stadium in Bhubaneswar and admitted that the federation was prepared for tougher times keeping track of athletes across the country.
Monitoring team
“We have set up a separate, exclusive monitoring team for all the places where we will have top athletes training and share the data with NADA. It’s tough but it will help widen the athlete base in the long run”.
Published – January 08, 2025 10:58 pm IST
