Athletics Federation of India: Difference between revisions

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Short description|National governing body for Athletics sport in India}}
{{primary sources |date=February 2013}}  
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
The '''Athletics Federation of India''' ('''AFI''') is the apex body for Athletics in [[India]], and is responsible for conducting Competitions in the country, formed in 1943.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Youth Sportsfederation|first=Dependant|date=2 February 2006|title=National Sports Games|url=https://Youthschoolgamefedrationdependant.com|url-status=live|archive-url=Yssgfd.com|archive-date=3 February 2006|access-date=3 February 2006|website=Yssgfd.com}}</ref><ref>[https://www.indianathletics.in/about-afi About Us]. Indian Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-29.</ref> It was earlier called as '''Amateur Athletic Federation of India''' (AAFI). It is associated with both [[Asian Athletics Association]] (AAA) and [[International Association of Athletics Federations|World Athletics.]]
{{Infobox sport governing body
|name        = Athletics Federation of India
|abbrev      = AFI
|logo        = Athletics Federation of India.png
|logosize    =
|sport        = [[Sport of athletics|Athletics]]
|category    =
|image        =
|caption      =
|jurisdiction = [[India]]
|founded      = {{Start date and age|1946}}
|aff          = [[World Athletics]]
|affdate      =
|region      = [[Asian Athletics Association]]
|regionyear  =
|headquarters = G-3, Community Center, C Block, Naraina Vihar, New Delhi - 110028
|location    = [[New Delhi]], India
|president    = [[Bahadur Singh Sagoo]]
|chairperson  =
|chair        =
|chiefexec    =
|vicepresident = [[Anju Bobby George]]
 
[[Jayanta Malla Baruah]]
|director    =
|secretary    = Sandeep Mehta
|coach        = {{ubl
|{{flagicon|GBR}} James Hillier
|{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Sergey Makarov (javelin thrower)|Sergey Makarov]]
|{{flagicon|JAM}} Jason Dawson
|{{flagicon|JAM}} Jerry Lee Holness
}}
|womenscoach  =
|key staff    =
|operating income =
|sponsor      =
|year closed  =
|replaced    =
|prevfounded  =
|url          = https://indianathletics.in/
|countryflag  = IND
}}
The '''Athletics Federation of India''' is the national governing body for the [[sport of athletics]] in [[India]], and is responsible for conducting competitions in the country. It was formed in 1943.&lt;ref&gt;[https://www.indianathletics.in/about-afi About Us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722175938/https://indianathletics.in/about-afi/ |date=22 July 2019 }}. Indian Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-29.&lt;/ref&gt; It is affiliated to [[World Athletics]] and [[Asian Athletics Association]].&lt;ref&gt;{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Asian Athletics |title=Asian Athletics Association {{!}} Promoting Athletic Excellence in Asia |url=https://asianathletics.com/member-federation/?country=in |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=www.asianathletics.com |language=en-US}}&lt;/ref&gt; [[Anju Bobby George]] is the vice president. It was formerly called the Amateur Athletic Federation of India.


==History==
==History==
Athletics Federation of India, then Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI), was formed in 1946 at the initiative of Prof. G.D. Sondhi and [[Maharaja Yadavindra Singh|Maharaja Yadvindra Singh]]. Prof. [[Guru Dutt Sondhi|G.D. Sondhi]] was its first President for a short while, resigning on 13 April 1950. In 2017 AFI made a lot of decision against the interest of the country and avoided qualified [[PU Chitra]] from attending [[2017 World Championships in Athletics]]. This organisation is corrupted and need a complete system cleaning to ensure the qualified athlete are selected instead of kith and kin of AFI members.
Athletics Federation of India, then Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI), was formed in 1946 at the initiative of Prof. G.D. Sondhi and [[Maharaja Yadavindra Singh|Maharaja Yadvindra Singh]]. [[Guru Dutt Sondhi|G.D. Sondhi]] was its first President for a short while, resigning on 13 April 1950.


==Competitions==
AFI organises the following national-level athletics competitions in the country:
The Competitions, conducted by the AFI, are divided into three categories “I”, “II” & “III”. Category I is solely conducted by AFI whereas Category II includes all those Competitions, for which AFI grants permission to any other party, affiliated Units/Clubs/Organisations. Category III consists of competitions conducted by AFI but not regularly.
Our country's valuable junior athletes are now doing exceptionally well as they are in the large group and have an astonishing ability to grab some victorious victories at the international level. Harjeet Singh of Punjab has an astonishing timing in the 100m and the junior national champion Sadanand Kumar of Jharkhand ran his personal best timing of 10.95 sec in the 100m achieving the gold medal. Aditya Kumar Rout of Odisha has an extraordinary timing and performance in the 400 m he is the newest national champion from Odisha with the timing of 48.01sec and achieving the gold medal in the junior federation championship and a silver medal in 400m in the junior national championship he has also been performing well in the 200 m and achieved a timing of 22.09 sec in the 200m in recent championships.


Aditya Kumar Rout has qualified for the youth Asian championships that will be held in 2022. He is likely to represent India in the 400m and 200m. Rourkela boy shines with his talent.
* [[Indian National Open Athletics Championships]]
* Indian National Inter-State Senior Athletics championships
* National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Competition
* Indian Open Racewalking competition
* Indian Open Javelin throw competition
* National Federation Cup under-20 Athletics championships  
* National Javelin Throw Competition {{Efn|This competition was founded, announced by AFI in 2021. It is scheduled to host on 7 August 2022, to commemorate India's first Olympic gold medal in Javelin throw by [[Neeraj Chopra]]&lt;ref name=O&gt;{{cite web | last=Venkat | first=Rahul | title=Indian athletics calendar 2022: Season to start February 26 | website=Olympics.com | date=8 May 2022 | url=https://olympics.com/en/news/indian-athletics-calendar-2022-season | access-date=14 April 2023}}&lt;/ref&gt;|name=O|group=note}}
* North Zone Junior Athletics championship
* Indian open 400m competition
* South zone junior Athletics championship
* West zone junior Athletics championship
* East zone junior Athletics championship
* National youth Athletics championship
* National open athletics championship
* Indian Open Under-23 Athletics competition
* National junior Athletics championship
* National Inter-district junior Athletics meet.
* Source - &lt;ref&gt;{{Cite web |title=Indian athletics calendar 2022: Full schedule. |url=https://olympics.com/en/news/indian-athletics-calendar-2022-season |access-date=28 October 2022 |website=www.olympics.com}}&lt;/ref&gt;


Denied to appear in the interviews.
==Coaches==
Aditya Kumar Rout is sponsored by AdidasIndia  for his extraordinary talent and for representing India in the Youth Asian Championships 2022. He is ranked as the best athlete(U 18) of the year 2020.  
British James Hillier is the sprint and hurdles coach.&lt;ref&gt;{{Cite web |date=2023-08-22 |title=James Hillier’s journey: From working as property surveyor to coaching India’s fastest woman hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and fastest man Amlan Borgohain |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/james-hilliers-journey-from-working-as-property-surveyor-to-coaching-indias-fastest-woman-hurdler-jyothi-yarraji-and-fastest-man-amlan-borgohain-8902869/lite/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}&lt;/ref&gt; Jamaican Jason Dawson is the men's 400m relay coach since Russian [[Galina Bukharina]] left.&lt;ref&gt;{{Cite web |date=2023-10-23 |title=Behind relay team’s memorable run: New-found belief, taskmaster coach |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/behind-relay-teams-memorable-run-new-found-belief-taskmaster-coach-8995475/lite/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}&lt;/ref&gt; Jamaican Jerry Lee Holness is the women's 400m relay coach. [[Sergey Makarov (javelin thrower)|Sergey Makarov]] is the [[javelin throw]] coach.&lt;ref&gt;{{Cite web |last=Selvaraj |first=Jonathan |date=2024-10-01 |title=AFI shortlists former World Champion Makarov as India’s new javelin throw coach, awaits SAI approval |url=https://sportstar.thehindu.com/athletics/afi-shortlists-sergey-makarov-india-new-javelin-throw-coach-olympic-medallist-neeraj-chopra-sai-approval-news/article68706463.ece/ |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=sportstar.thehindu.com |language=en}}&lt;/ref&gt; Uwe Hohn and  Klaus Bartonietz have previously coached javelin throwers.&lt;ref&gt;{{Cite web |date=2021-06-16 |title=India’s German javelin coach Uwe Hohn slams Olympics preparation |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/indias-german-javelin-coach-uwe-hohn-slams-olympics-preparation-7360808/lite/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}&lt;/ref&gt;
 
==Controversies==
AFI has been under pressure for the last several years due to doping scandals. The entire {{nowrap|4 × 400 m}} women's relay that won gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games tested positive for an anabolic steroid.


# ADITYA KUMAR ROUT(ODISHA) AIR 1
The governing body's selection process for international teams has received public criticism. [[PU Chitra]], [[Ajay Kumar Saroj]] and [[Sudha Singh]] were excluded from the [[2017 World Championships in Athletics]] despite being eligible for entry by the [[International Association of Athletics Federations]] (the global governing body). Chitra lodged an appeal to the Kerala High Court in July 2017, though she was ultimately excluded as the court's request for inclusion was beyond the selection cut-off date. Commentator KP Mohan believed the right decision had been made to not include Chitra and several other Asian champions, given their low international ranking at that time, though he stated the controversy could have been avoided if the AFI had made its selection criteria clear before the start of the athletics season.&lt;ref&gt;Mohan, KP (2017-07-31). [https://scroll.in/field/845593/utter-mess-indias-athletics-body-took-the-right-call-with-pu-chitra-but-handled-it-poorly Utter mess: India’s athletics body took the right call with PU Chitra but handled it poorly]. Scroll. Retrieved 2020-03-03.&lt;/ref&gt;
# HARJEET SINGH(PUNJAB) AIR 2
# SADANAND KUMAR(JHARKHAND) AIR 3


==Controversies==
==Footnotes==
AFI has been under pressure for the last several years due to doping scandals. The entire 4x400m women`s relay that won gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games were tested positive for anabolic steroid.
{{Notelist}}
{{Reflist| group=note}}


The governing body's selection process for international teams have received public criticism. [[PU Chitra]], [[Ajay Kumar Saroj]] and [[Sudha Singh]] were excluded from the [[2017 World Championships in Athletics]] despite being eligible for entry by the [[International Association of Athletics Federations]] (the global governing body). Chitra lodged an appeal to the Kerala High Court in July 2017, though she was ultimately excluded as the court's request for inclusion was beyond the selection cut-off date. Commentator KP Mohan believed the right decision had been made to not include Chitra and several other Asian champions, given their low international ranking at that time, though he stated the controversy could have been avoided if the AFI had made its selection criteria clear before the start of the athletics season.<ref>Mohan, KP (2017-07-31). [https://scroll.in/field/845593/utter-mess-indias-athletics-body-took-the-right-call-with-pu-chitra-but-handled-it-poorly Utter mess: India’s athletics body took the right call with PU Chitra but handled it poorly]. Scroll. Retrieved 2020-03-03.</ref>
==See also==
* [[Sports in India]] – Overview of sports in India


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
* History of Physical Education and Sports By Ram Mohun Mojumdar
* History, Foundation of Physical Education and Educational Psychology By Tahir P. Hussain


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.indianathletics.in/ AFI web site]
* {{official website|http://www.indianathletics.in/}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120731160540/http://www.indianathletics.in/tech/competition%20mannual%202010%282%29.pdf Competition Manual] in PDF)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120731160540/http://www.indianathletics.in/tech/competition%20mannual%202010%282%29.pdf Competition Manual]


{{Sports governing bodies in India}}
{{Sports governing bodies in India}}
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[[Category:Sports organizations established in 1946]]
[[Category:Sports organizations established in 1946]]
[[Category:1946 establishments in India]]
[[Category:1946 establishments in India]]
{{India-sport-stub}}

Revision as of 07:13, 15 March 2026


Athletics Federation of India
SportAthletics
JurisdictionIndia
AbbreviationAFI
Founded1946; 80 years ago (1946)
AffiliationWorld Athletics
Regional affiliationAsian Athletics Association
HeadquartersG-3, Community Center, C Block, Naraina Vihar, New Delhi - 110028
LocationNew Delhi, India
PresidentBahadur Singh Sagoo
Vice president(s)Anju Bobby George Jayanta Malla Baruah
SecretarySandeep Mehta
Coach
Official website
indianathletics.in
India

The Athletics Federation of India is the national governing body for the sport of athletics in India, and is responsible for conducting competitions in the country. It was formed in 1943.<ref>About Us Archived 22 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Indian Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-29.</ref> It is affiliated to World Athletics and Asian Athletics Association.<ref>Association, Asian Athletics. "Asian Athletics Association | Promoting Athletic Excellence in Asia". www.asianathletics.com. Retrieved 3 January 2025.</ref> Anju Bobby George is the vice president. It was formerly called the Amateur Athletic Federation of India.

History

Athletics Federation of India, then Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI), was formed in 1946 at the initiative of Prof. G.D. Sondhi and Maharaja Yadvindra Singh. G.D. Sondhi was its first President for a short while, resigning on 13 April 1950.

AFI organises the following national-level athletics competitions in the country:

  • Indian National Open Athletics Championships
  • Indian National Inter-State Senior Athletics championships
  • National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Competition
  • Indian Open Racewalking competition
  • Indian Open Javelin throw competition
  • National Federation Cup under-20 Athletics championships
  • National Javelin Throw Competition [note 1]
  • North Zone Junior Athletics championship
  • Indian open 400m competition
  • South zone junior Athletics championship
  • West zone junior Athletics championship
  • East zone junior Athletics championship
  • National youth Athletics championship
  • National open athletics championship
  • Indian Open Under-23 Athletics competition
  • National junior Athletics championship
  • National Inter-district junior Athletics meet.
  • Source - <ref>"Indian athletics calendar 2022: Full schedule". www.olympics.com. Retrieved 28 October 2022.</ref>

Coaches

British James Hillier is the sprint and hurdles coach.<ref>"James Hillier's journey: From working as property surveyor to coaching India's fastest woman hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and fastest man Amlan Borgohain". The Indian Express. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2025.</ref> Jamaican Jason Dawson is the men's 400m relay coach since Russian Galina Bukharina left.<ref>"Behind relay team's memorable run: New-found belief, taskmaster coach". The Indian Express. 23 October 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2025.</ref> Jamaican Jerry Lee Holness is the women's 400m relay coach. Sergey Makarov is the javelin throw coach.<ref>Selvaraj, Jonathan (1 October 2024). "AFI shortlists former World Champion Makarov as India's new javelin throw coach, awaits SAI approval". sportstar.thehindu.com. Retrieved 3 January 2025.</ref> Uwe Hohn and Klaus Bartonietz have previously coached javelin throwers.<ref>"India's German javelin coach Uwe Hohn slams Olympics preparation". The Indian Express. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2025.</ref>

Controversies

AFI has been under pressure for the last several years due to doping scandals. The entire 4 × 400 m women's relay that won gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games tested positive for an anabolic steroid.

The governing body's selection process for international teams has received public criticism. PU Chitra, Ajay Kumar Saroj and Sudha Singh were excluded from the 2017 World Championships in Athletics despite being eligible for entry by the International Association of Athletics Federations (the global governing body). Chitra lodged an appeal to the Kerala High Court in July 2017, though she was ultimately excluded as the court's request for inclusion was beyond the selection cut-off date. Commentator KP Mohan believed the right decision had been made to not include Chitra and several other Asian champions, given their low international ranking at that time, though he stated the controversy could have been avoided if the AFI had made its selection criteria clear before the start of the athletics season.<ref>Mohan, KP (2017-07-31). Utter mess: India’s athletics body took the right call with PU Chitra but handled it poorly. Scroll. Retrieved 2020-03-03.</ref>

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named O

See also

References

External links

Template:National Members of the International Association of Athletics Federations

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