The track relaying work at the LNCPE centre in Thiruvananthapuram is not yet complete but the Athletics Federation of India has shifted its national camp for quartermilers, hurdlers and relay runners from Patiala to the Kerala capital.
“I’ve reached Thiruvananthapuram and coach Galina (Bukharina) and others will be landing tomorrow,” said Muhammed Anas, the men’s 400m national record holder on Monday evening.
Chief National coach Radhakrishnan Nair explained that the quartermilers’ camp had to be shifted to Thiruvananthapuram because of the cold weather in Patiala. “We have shifted mainly because of the weather conditions, it’s getting more and more cold here. They were not able to do two training sessions,” Radhakrishnan told Sportstar from Patiala.
“If they start at 8 a.m., the session finishes about 10.30 a.m. and afternoon, they have to start latest by 3.30 p.m. because after 5 p.m. it is getting dark and very cold here. This is preparatory season, they need to have two sessions. That is why we failed before the Olympics, there was no place to shift them.
“And it is not like throwing. The runners have to remove their heavy wear; they can’t run with the full track suit.”
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The chief coach said 38 athletes will be in Thiruvananthapuram, including the 4x400m relay and 400m hurdles men and women and 4x100m relay women. “A few more athletes (including Priya Mohan, the country’s fastest female this year) have been invited to join the camp. If they want, they can join,” said Radhakrishnan.
Meanwhile G. Kishore, the Regional Director of Sports Authority of India (Kerala), said the wet weather was the reason for the delay in completing the track work at the SAI LNCPE centre. “The track work was supposed to be completed in October but because of the unprecedented rain and other problems, we couldn’t complete it. It requires another 15 to 20 days work,” said Kishore.
“But we cannot start unless we have at least 10 dry days. Unless it is totally dry, the quality of the surface will be affected.”
“The track work will not affect the athletes training because Galina said they will be concentrating on general conditioning training, including beach running. They need to have synthetic track training only twice a week and they will be taken to the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium or the University Stadium. So, there will not be any hindrance to their workouts.”
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