Coronavirus: AFI targets return to action by September

The interaction, led by AFI chief, was attended by more than 50 athletes and many officials along with Planning Committee chairman Lalit Bhanot among others.

AFI also mentioned that the athletes would also be allowed to train outside (SAI Centres) after consultations once the situation improves, [Representative image]

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is targeting a return to action by September this year, hopeful that the situation would improve enough by then to conduct domestic competitions.

“We will try to resume our domestic competitions from September-October 2020 and for next year from March-April 2021. With the postponement of Olympics, we hope many young athletes stand a chance to qualify while seniors need to focus on fitness. At this stage we cannot say anything about foreign competitions-cum-exposure camps in 2020. Athletes would also be allowed to train outside (SAI Centres) after consultations once the situation improves,” AFI president Adille Sumariwala said after an online interaction with athletes, coaches and support staff on Monday. 

ALSO READ|

The interaction was attended by more than 50 athletes and around 30 officials along with Planning Committee chairman Lalit Bhanot, chief coach Bahadur Singh, Deputy Chief Bahadur Singh High Performance Director Volker Hermann. 

Most of the elite athletes including javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh, quarter-miler Hima Das, shot putter Tajinder Toor, race walker KT Irfan and the 4x400m relay teams are currently confined to their rooms in national camps at various SAI Centres across the country.