After PU Chitra uproar, Athletics Federation of India to detail qualifying standards

AFI will introduce qualifying standards across track and field disciplines for next year’s Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. This is along the lines of the system in place for the Olympics and World Championships.

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The AFI has also discussed the issue of the ‘poor’ performance of the Indian squad at the World Championships.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will introduce qualifying standards across track and field disciplines for next year’s Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. This is along the lines of the system in place for the Olympics and World Championships. The decision was taken at the meeting of the AFI’s planning commission in Patiala, and comes after the uproar following the omission of PU Chitra from the squad for the London World Championships.

The athlete went to court after being overlooked despite being a gold medallist in the 1,500 metres at an ‘area games’ – in this case the Asian Athletics Championships. The AFI had justified not picking her by pointing to her timings, which were much slower than the qualifying standards for the world championships.

AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said that the introduction of qualifying standards was a step towards greater transparency. “There are no qualifying standards for the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. We will be uploading these qualifying standards on our website in a week so every athlete is clear about what performances will be considered when a squad is picked,” Sumariwalla said on Tuesday.

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The AFI president added that the selectors had referred to ‘internal qualifying standards’ when selecting an athlete but this would be the first time that timings, distances and heights which athletes need to achieve will be uploaded on the website.

“After the Chitra case, everybody said that the AFI needs to be more transparent. We always had internal standards but now we are making it public,” Sumariwalla added.

In Chitra’s case, the AFI had said that though she had won gold at the Asian Athletics Championships in the 1,500 metres, she had finished second in the National Inter-state Championships which were held a week later where her timing was slower than the Indian junior national record and not close to World Championships standards. But the athlete’s lawyer had argued that others who did not meet qualifying standards had been picked with the ‘gold’ at the Asian Championships giving them entry.

“I continue to have full faith in our selection committee, which includes some of our best Olympians. They have the experience and wisdom to judge who deserves to be in the team and who does not. We have to trust the selection committee,” Sumariwalla added.

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The AFI has also discussed the issue of the ‘poor’ performance of the Indian squad at the World Championships. Only one athlete reached the final and another bettered a personal best. “AFI is not satisfied with the performance of most of the athletes at the IAAF World Championships 2017- London and it is being mentioned clearly to the chief coach Mr. Bahadur Singh. The performance of our athletes was poor,” Sumariwalla said.

The AFI also decided to make coaches accountable for the performance of the athletes. “The working of coaches will be strictly monitored and coaches will be held accountable for the performances of the athletes. The targets for athletes will also be set in advance and those attaining qualifying standards set by AFI for Asian Games and CWG 2018 will be selected in the team. Our focus is on Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Winning medals at Asian competitions and area championships is not enough,” the AFI president added.