India to host Silver-Level Continent Tour event next year: Athletics federation confirms

Athletics Federation of India also replaces the Indian Grand Prix series with the Indian Athletics Series, to be held across 16 cities with the final to be held in New Delhi; National Indoor Athletics Championships also introduced

India is set to host its first-ever Silver-Level Continental Tour event next year in Bhubaneswar. (Express Photo | Pritish Raj)

India is set to host its first-ever Silver-Level Continental Tour event next year in Bhubaneswar, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) announced on Tuesday. This comes after India hosted a Bronze-Level event in the Odisha capital earlier this year. The Silver-Level event, which is a World Athletics Category B event, will be held on August 22 at the Kalinga Stadium.

“We have got an upgrade after hosting the Bronze-Level Tour competition last year. We have decided to go ahead with the same venue this time,” Ravinder Chaudhary, Director of Competitions, AFI told the reporters on Tuesday.

In a first for the country, the AFI will also conduct the inaugural edition of the National Indoor Athletics Championships, to be held at the Kalinga indoor stadium in Bhubaneshwar. The existing Indian Grand Prix series will be replaced with an Indian Athletics Series, which will have 16 Category F events spread across as many cities.

The series will conclude with a final event in New Delhi to feature international athletes.

“We have increased the number of competitions this year. Last year, we had 32 competitions and this year we have 40. The idea is to increase exposure for the Indian athletes and also make it financially viable. With 16 different events across different parts of the country, athletes can participate in the events closer to their training bases,” Chaudhary explained. “We have also relaxed the qualification standards to accommodate the budding athletes in events like the Indian Athletics Series,” he added further.

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Packed calendar

The next year is going to be a packed calendar with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. CWG is scheduled from July 23 to August 2 in Glasgow while the Asian Games will be held from September 19 to August 4.

“Both the events are very close to each other and we can’t have two different trials. While we haven’t decided which competition will be a selection meet, it is likely the Inter-State National Championships will be the one,” chief national coach P Radhakrishnan Nair said.

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The AFI has also mandated that athletes participate in a minimum of two competitions to be eligible to participate in the Federation Cup Athletics championships and three competitions, along with their state meet, to participate in Inter-State National Championships.