Athletics national camp likely to begin next month

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The national camps of elite athletes are expected to begin soon. With a cramped and gruelling calendar in 2023, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is planning to begin the training of athletes next month. Though there were discussions about sending athletes abroad, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said they would start their training in India for now.

The 2024 Olympics would be the ultimate goal. The AFI would like to utilise next year with the Asian Championships (Indoor included), World Championships and the Asian Games as a stepping stone to the Olympics. “We will have a meeting in the next few days,” said Sumariwalla. “Our long term plan is to target the Olympics 2024. And next year would be like a stepping stone towards that goal. We will have a discussion with the coaches, the support staff and other experts before finalising the dates and venues for the training sessions. Even the athletes will be consulted.”

Last year, the national camps started in October but because of a long season this year, the camps had to be deferred. The last nationals got over on October 19. And like this year, next year too is expected to extend until September/October. “We are planning to finalise it after the Diwali break,” he said. “Our primary focus of discussion will be how best we can use the competitions next year to our benefit.”

The camps are expected to begin in batches in Patiala, Bengaluru and Thirvananthapuram. However, AFI will send the athletes abroad for training in due course of time. “We have not finalised when but we would like to send the athletes abroad for training especially with such big events lined up next season. We will have discussions with the chief coach and other experts before finalising the dates.”

The AFI president also said that the evaluation of last season has been done earnestly to assess the positives and negatives in their methods. “We did a detailed evaluation event-wise. We have asked our athletes and coaches to give their feedback so that we can evaluate where we went right and where we went wrong. Or find out where things have worked out well for us so that we don’t need to recreate those that worked. And find out ways to chisel out rough edges.”

The AFI president is hopeful that the postponed Asian Games will take place as planned. “Our discussions will also revolve around how our athletes can excel at the Asian Championships and Games too,” he said.

<br /> CHENNAI: The national camps of elite athletes are expected to begin soon. With a cramped and gruelling calendar in 2023, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is planning to begin the training of athletes next month. Though there were discussions about sending athletes abroad, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said they would start their training in India for now.</p> <p>The 2024 Olympics would be the ultimate goal. The AFI would like to utilise next year with the Asian Championships (Indoor included), World Championships and the Asian Games as a stepping stone to the Olympics. “We will have a meeting in the next few days,” said Sumariwalla. “Our long term plan is to target the Olympics 2024. And next year would be like a stepping stone towards that goal. We will have a discussion with the coaches, the support staff and other experts before finalising the dates and venues for the training sessions. Even the athletes will be consulted.”</p> <!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.85 --> <div class="quads-location quads-ad200503 " id="quads-ad200503" style="float:none;margin:0px 3px 3px 3px;padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" data-lazydelay="0"> <!-- WP QUADS - Quick AdSense Reloaded v.2.0.85 Content AdSense async --> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block;" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7550963679842137" data-ad-slot="1823845571"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});</script> <!-- end WP QUADS --> </div> <p>Last year, the national camps started in October but because of a long season this year, the camps had to be deferred. The last nationals got over on October 19. And like this year, next year too is expected to extend until September/October. “We are planning to finalise it after the Diwali break,” he said. “Our primary focus of discussion will be how best we can use the competitions next year to our benefit.”</p> <p>The camps are expected to begin in batches in Patiala, Bengaluru and Thirvananthapuram. However, AFI will send the athletes abroad for training in due course of time. “We have not finalised when but we would like to send the athletes abroad for training especially with such big events lined up next season. We will have discussions with the chief coach and other experts before finalising the dates.”</p> <p>The AFI president also said that the evaluation of last season has been done earnestly to assess the positives and negatives in their methods. “We did a detailed evaluation event-wise. We have asked our athletes and coaches to give their feedback so that we can evaluate where we went right and where we went wrong. Or find out where things have worked out well for us so that we don’t need to recreate those that worked. And find out ways to chisel out rough edges.”</p> <!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.85 --> <div class="quads-location quads-ad200503 " id="quads-ad200503" style="float:none;margin:0px 3px 3px 3px;padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" data-lazydelay="0"> <!-- WP QUADS - Quick AdSense Reloaded v.2.0.85 Content AdSense async --> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block;" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7550963679842137" data-ad-slot="1823845571"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});</script> <!-- end WP QUADS --> </div> <p>The AFI president is hopeful that the postponed Asian Games will take place as planned. “Our discussions will also revolve around how our athletes can excel at the Asian Championships and Games too,” he said.<br />