AFI bemoans losing out venues
Football has usurped our training venues, say officials
The Athletics Federation of India on Tuesday rued lack of support from authorities who repeatedly let out their area of operations to football. With the Indian Super League (ISL) booking the athletics stadiums for months, it has forced the athletes out of many venues.
The AFI claimed they were keen to host the upcoming Federation Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the capital, but with the ISL already booking the stadium, they were forced to conduct it in NIS, Patiala, as in the previous year.
Former long jump champion Anju Bobby George and AFI secretary CK Valson said the training of athletes is being compromised across the country to serve the interest of commercial ventures.
"Athletics is the toughest of all events. But it is not getting the right support. Football has taken over athletics, there is no place for athletes to practice or compete. Whether it is the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, Sree Kanteerava in Bengaluru or Nehru Stadium in Chennai, you cannot use these venues as a football tournament is going on," said Anju at an AFI event to announce Run Adam, a sporting talent app, as the title sponsor for the Federation Cup scheduled from March 5-8.
"Athletics has limited facilities. The tracks that we have in Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru are basically for athletics. If football matches have to be held, they can have separate facilities. Being a government observer I have raised this issue several times with the government. It is sad."
Valson said AFI had been repeatedly told to host the field events -- shot put, javelin and discus -- at the warm-up areas. When the same instruction was given for Khelo India Games, the AFI had threatened to pull out of the event. It was only then all athletics events were allowed to be conducted inside the stadium.
"We will not be allowed to use the central area of the ground for throw events, so that is why we have been asked to conduct throw events at the warm-up area. Because of this, we had to even cancel some of the throw events in the past," Valson said.
"The Fed Cup is a National Championship and a qualifying event for the Commonwealth Games. We have a junior world champion in Neeraj Chopra in the javelin. You expect them to perform there in absence of any crowd? I want to ask the government, whether you want commercial success or you want Olympics or Asian Games or Commonwealth Games medal?"
