Latest news with #AdilleSumariwalla
Time of India
2 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
AFI plans robust monitoring system to prepare Indian athletes for 2026 international events
Nagpur: The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) established a comprehensive monitoring system to enhance the performance of the Indian track and field team for the 2026 Commonwealth and Asian Games. The 2026 Commonwealth Games are scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 2 in Glasgow, while the Asian Games will be held from September 19 to October 4 in Japan. Eleven months following the decentralisation of national coaching camps after the 2024 Paris Olympic Games held in France from July 26 to August 11, the results were promising at the Gumi Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea, held from May 27 to 31, and in domestic competitions, according to AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla. During a one-day meeting in New Delhi on Friday with all stakeholders, including govt and private entities, Sumariwalla addressed the successful decentralisation training model. He noted initial concerns regarding doping and declining performance as top athletes trained at various centres across the country post-decentralisation. "But both issues were successfully tackled due to a good monitoring system," Sumariwalla, vice president of World Athletics, said. He added, "The national team finished second with 24 medals, eight of them gold, behind China in the medal tally at the continental meet. Several national records were also improved in Gumi, which augurs well for the future." To achieve significant impact in continental and global track and field events, Sumariwalla urged all stakeholders to collaborate. "There is a large pool of over 1,000 athletes, including elite training across various centres. All stakeholders, including departments and private entities, should work in tandem for the holistic development of track and field in the country," he emphasized. Sumariwalla also called on stakeholders to adhere strictly to AFI guidelines on the annual competition calendar to provide more opportunities for promising athletes. "Domestic competition has become more competitive. AFI has also introduced regional competitions. Private institutions and govt departments should encourage athletes to compete on home ground rather than send them abroad to participate in low-key events," he added. Addressing the issue of doping, Sumariwalla urged all stakeholders to take strict action against offenders. "AFI has a no needle policy and zero tolerance towards doping. Accountability of officials and coaches at the district and state levels whose athletes test positive for performance-enhancing drugs should be enforced. Strict punishment will act as a deterrent."
NDTV
2 days ago
- Sport
- NDTV
Athletics Federation Of India Conceptualising Robust Monitoring System To Enhance Performance
With the Asian and Commonwealth Games lined up next year, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is planning to implement a "robust monitoring system" to enhance the performance of its athletes and increase the number of medals. Indian track and field athletes have traditionally done well at the Asian Games and the AFI wants to take that success a few notches higher at the 2026 continental showpiece in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan and also improve the tally in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. AFI has been encouraged by the fact that nearly 11 months after the decentralisation of the national coaching camps post the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the overall results showed marked improvement at the Asian Championships in South Korea last month and the domestic competitions. AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla said there were fears that the decentralised training model could be counterproductive, but, on the contrary, there have been a lot of positives. "There was apprehension of doping and not-so-encouraging performance as top athletes were training across the country at different centres after decentralisation. But both the issues were successfully tackled due to a good monitoring system," said Sumariwalla, World Athletics vice-president, during a meeting with government and private entities on the successful decentralisation training model, on Friday. "The national team finished second with 24 medals, eight of them gold behind China in the medal tally in the continental meet. Several national records were also improved in Gumi (Asian Championships), which augurs well for the future," he added. He urged the stakeholders to work together for the common good of athletics. "There is a big pool of over 1,000 athletes, including elite training across various centres. All the stakeholders, including departments and private entities, should work in tandem for holistic development of track and field in the country." He asked the stakeholders to strictly follow AFI guidelines on annual competition calendar to give more opportunities to promising athletes. "Domestic competition has become more competitive. AFI has also introduced regional competitions. Private institutions and government departments should encourage athletes to compete on home ground rather than send athletes abroad to compete in low key events," he added. On the doping menace, Sumariwalla urged the stakeholders to stay vigilant. "AFI has no needle policy and zero tolerance to doping. But accountability of the officials/coaches at the district/state level whose athletes test positive for performance enhancing drugs should be fixed. Strict punishment will act as a deterrent," he added. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
The Hindu
14-06-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
AFI includes men's and women's 4x100m relay events as 2026 Asian Games medal prospects
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has included the men's and women's 4x100m relays as priority events for the 2026 Asian Games in Japan, buoyed by the recent strong performances in domestic and international competitions. Top AFI officials are expecting medals from the two events at the Asian Games to be held in Aichi-Nagoya from September 19 to October 4, 2026. 'The AFI has included men's and women's 4x100m relay teams as a priority event for the 2026 Asian Games,' AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla said. 'A series of outstanding performances by relay teams augurs well for the future,' said Sumariwalla, vice-president of the World Athletics and former AFI president. In April this year, the 4x100m relay team of Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain clocked 38.69 seconds to better the more than a decade-old national record of 38.89 seconds clocked at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. Going by the timings of the top three finishers in the 2022 Games in Hangzhou, the country has a chance to finish on the podium in Japan in 2026. China had won gold with a timing of 38.29 seconds while Japan (38.44 seconds) and South Korea (38.74 seconds) took the silver and bronze respectively. In the women's 4x100m relay, the team of Abhinaya Rajarajan, Srabani Nanda, Sneha SS and Nithya Gandhe clocked 43.86 seconds to win silver in the recent Asian Championships in Gumi, South Korea. This performance by the Indians is much better than the 2022 Asian Games silver winning time of 44.32 seconds clocked by Thailand and 45.01 seconds clocked by bronze winner Malaysia. ALSO READ | Mondo Duplantis' record at Diamond League: A staggering winning streak The women's 4x100m relay gold in the 2022 Asian Games was won by China with a time of 43.39 seconds. India did not send any 4x100m relay teams to the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games. The last time the Indian women's 4x100m featured in the Asian Games was in the 2014 edition at Incheon, where the quartet of Sarbani Nanda, Asha Roy, Sharadha Narayana and H M Jyothi had finished sixth in the final with a time of 44.91 seconds. The last time the Indian men's 4x100m team competed in the Asian Games was in the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, where the quartet of Rahamatulla Molla, Sathya Suresh, Shameer Mon and Najeeb Qureshi had finished fourth in the final with a time of 39.10 seconds. Sumariwalla said Reliance Academy in Mumbai will be the main training centre for the men's 4x100m relay team, while the top female sprinters will be based at the National Centre of Excellence in Thiruvananthapuram to prepare for the upcoming international events.
New Indian Express
31-05-2025
- Sport
- New Indian Express
Animesh leads charge as young stars shine at Asian meet
CHENNAI: INDIAN athletics seems to be witnessing a new dawn where athletes don't fear international competitions anymore. Nor do they fear failure on big stage. The transformation from apprehension to infectious confidence seems to have brought in a change in attitude and according to former Athletics Federation of India and current spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla, this is because of quite a few reasons. One of them is exposure to international competitions and another was because of the number domestic competitions the AFI has been conducting. The Asian Athletics Championships has shown that youngsters have started producing results from 18 year-old to mid 20s. Out of the 24 medals India won, 20 of them have been won by those aged 26 or under. In addition to the medals, a few have shattered national and championship records as well. Young sprinter Animesh Kujur (21), javelin thrower Sachin Yadav (25) were among the stars on Saturday. While Animesh shattered his own national record in 200m, Sachin threw his personal best. There was an 18-year-old Abhinaya Rajarajan in the women's 4x100m relay team. On Friday, Pooja, 18, created a U20 national record in high jump. 21 year old heptathlete Nandini Agasara came close to breaking the national record.
Hindustan Times
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
India Open race walk under scanner after AFI glitch
New Delhi: The results of the Indian Open Race Walking Competition are yet to be updated by the World Athletics (WA) for world championships qualification. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said there was a technical glitch in one race (women's 35km) during the April 19 event in Chandigarh, but results of other races will be considered by WA. Race walkers, however, say that when they reached out to WA, they were told the competition has not met the set 'standards and criteria' and therefore the results are not considered for ranking points towards the Tokyo World Championships in September. If the result is not added, the race walkers will have to compete in another event to boost qualification chances. In Tokyo, competitions will be held in the 20km and 35km events (men and women). Three results in the qualification period (Feb 25, 2024-Aug 24, 2025) are considered for world rankings. A maximum of three race walkers from one country can compete. It has been learned that in the women's 35km competition, there was an issue with the counting of laps in the course (road) and the race finished at 34km. 'There was an issue with only a 35km race walk. It was a human error on the part of a judge due to which the result of women's 35km race walk has been scrapped. We have already taken action against the judge. The result of other races will be updated in the rankings,' AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla told HT. The competition is conducted by technical officials of AFI. Besides, there are three WA race-walking judges who monitor the races and report to the world body. Interestingly, the result of India Open Race Walking Competition of 2024 also came under scrutiny due a similar technical error. WA had not recognised the timings of three race walkers who had qualified for Paris Olympics from that meet. One of them was Servin Sebastian. Unfortunately, Servin is again at the receiving end for no fault of his. He won the 20km event clocking 1 hour, 21 minutes, 47 seconds. Servin is in good form this season and currently ranked just outside of the top 50 (Road to Tokyo) who will qualify for Tokyo. The Chandigarh result would have taken him into the top-50. Now, Servin will have to do well at the Asian Championships to qualify. The 35km men's race walk was won by 2023 Asian Games bronze medallist Ram Baboo (2:32:54). A coach said it was disappointing that race walkers will now have to compete in another event to have any chance of qualifying for Tokyo. 'How can you repeatedly have technical errors in the most important competition of your domestic calendar? It is a lot of hard work and effort and now to not have the result is very discouraging. Not every athlete has the sponsor to go out and compete in events overseas to qualify,' the coach said.
