Drastic changes in the offing, says Sumariwalla

Looking forward to the Los Angeles Olympics, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is all set to give promising athletes a chance with an aim to raise the performance of the men’s 4x400m relay team.

The relay team, which reached the 2023 World championships by setting an Asian record of 2:59.05, disappointed at the Paris Olympics as it crashed out in the heats with a below-par time of 3:00.26.

The AFI, which backed the relay team well with the support from the Government, is not shy of taking hard decisions. “They did well at the World championships, breaking the Asian record. I think it went to their head…You are going to see new faces and new coaches,” AFI president Adille Sumariwalla told The Hindu during the National junior athletics championships at the Kalinga Stadium here.

Sumariwalla was also disappointed with steeplechaser Avinash Sable’s performance in the Olympics. Sable, who achieved his personal best of 8:09.91 in July, clocked 8:14.18 in the Olympics final to finish 11th.

The AFI is taking several measures to lift Indian athletes’ performance in bigger meets, such as the 2027 World championships and 2028 Olympics.

“We are getting a new javelin coach apart from Neeraj’s coach (Jan Zelezny) to India. We are looking at getting one more foreign coach in the 400m. We are planning to send our walkers abroad for training. We are not going to have camps. We are helping all the institutions to create their own champions, except for the relays.”

Sumariwalla said India is bidding to host international events, including a javelin competition, a continental tour event, World Relays, World junior championships and the 2029 World championships.

Taking note of several exceptional performances in the National junior meet here, Sumariwalla agreed that some of these could be a cause for concern. “If they are under-14 or under-16, definitely it’s a cause for concern. It’s something which we have been fighting for a long time — overtraining and early specialisation. That is why we are producing more and more new coaches”

The AFI is planning to add 10 more events, including some regional competitions, to the 2025 calendar.