NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2024

A TH L E T I C S F E D E R AT IO N O F IND IA
Athletics Federation of India
SEPTEMBER - 2024
www.indianathletics.in

PAIN RESERVOIR NEERAJ CHOPRA

WHAT’S INSIDE
pg. 04 I Army distance runner Gulveer pg. 07 I SAAF meet turned out to be an
Singh’s next target is 2025 World excellent platform for junior athletes on the
Championships home soil
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 A T H L E T I C S F E D E R ATIO N O F IND IA SEPTEMBER - 2024

NEERAJ CHOPRA
exemplifies art of adaptation,
expands boundaries in Brussels
Diamond League

Neeraj Chopra

A
ll elite sportspersons quickly adapt to India’s celebrated 26-year-old javelin
local weather conditions. Adaptation thrower, Neeraj Chopra, has on several
comes through training in different occasions illustrated that he has the ability to
environments over a period of time. push beyond boundaries when it matters the
The high degree of mental and physical most.
conditioning also enables elite athletes to
perform to their potential in the face of stiff At the year-end Brussels Diamond League
challenges. Finals on September 14, despite a fractured

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 A TH L E T I C S F E D E R AT IO N O F IND IA SEPTEMBER - 2024

left hand, he stepped on to the field to

showcase his class.
Chopra’s focus was
He narrowly missed the title in Brussels.
Chopra’s best attempt was 87.86m while
to excel at the year-
the eventual winner, Anderson Peters of
Grenada, took home the trophy with a
end prestigious
throw of 87.87m. one-day Diamond
The 2024 Olympic year turned out to be
a long competitive season for Chopra.
League in Belgium.
He began his quest to defend his Olympic
Games title with the Doha Diamond League
He narrowly missed
in May. the trophy and
Despite niggles he continued to stay in the settled for second
place.
race for a podium finish at the Paris Olympic
Games, held between July 26 to August 11.
He finished with a silver medal to go with
his Tokyo Games gold, becoming the first
Indian track and field athlete to win back-to-
back Olympic medals. “All are at par in the
Olympics. It all depends on who is able to
give his best on the given day,” Chopra said
after winning silver in Paris.

Post Olympics, Chopra’s focus was to

excel at the year-end prestigious one-day
Diamond League in Belgium. He narrowly
missed the trophy and settled for second
place.

Chopra’s long association with German

bio-mechanic expert Klaus Bartonietz, who
was instrumental in keeping him in top
mental and physical condition to win back-
to-back Olympic Games medals, ended
post the Paris Olympic Games. The coach
has decided to take a break from coaching.
Chopra also won back-to-back medals at
the World Athletics Championships under
Bartonietz.

To prepare for the 2025 season, the Indian

javelin thrower will be training with a new
coach. That is after addressing fitness issues.

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 A T H L E T I C S F E D E R ATIO N O F IND IA SEPTEMBER - 2024

Army distance runner Gulveer Singh’s next

target is 2025 World Championships

A
rmy’s 26-year-old 2022 Asian Games
men’s 10,000m bronze medallist thrice
etched his name in record books this
year and wants to continue his good
run next year, a season that includes the World
Championships in Japan.

“Steady performances over the past four months

has given a big boost to his confidence,”
Radhakrishnan Nair, India’s chief athletics
coach, said. “He needs to work more to stay
on course to qualify for the 2025 World Athletics
Championships.”

The World Athletics Championships, to be held in

Tokyo from September 13, 2025, has a tough entry
standard. The qualification time for men’s 5,000m
is 13:01.00 while it is 27:00.00 is for the 10,000m.
The Indian army runner will focus on 5,000m. The
qualification window for 10,000m opened on
February 25, 2024. It will close on August 24, 2025.
For other track events entry standard can be
achieved from August 1, 2024 to August 24 2025.

While Gulveer Singh is the leading distance track

runner in the country, Kartik Kumar also from the performance was clocking 13:11.82 seconds over
army’s stable is the second best. Kartik Kumar 5,000m in the World Athletics Continental Tour in
whose personal best in 10,000m is 28:01.90 seconds the Japanese city of Niigata in the last week of
had also won silver at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian September.
Games in China. His personal best in the 5,000m
track race is 13:37.64 seconds. “Consistent performance in 10,000m and 5,000m
was a good learning experience. All the good
Gulveer Singh’s first record breaking performance work should be beneficial to prepare for the 2025
of this year was in 10,000m, on the USA track circuit season,” the Hangzhou Asian Games bronze
in June. He clocked 27:41.81 seconds to become medallist said.
the first male Indian athlete to break the 28-minute
barrier for the 25-lap race. The qualification system for World Athletics
Championships is a combination of entry standard
He went on to improve the national 5,000m and world ranking. Each event has specific quota
record to 13:18.92 seconds at the 2024 Portland places -- August 24, 2025 is the deadline to qualify
Track Festival in June. His third record-breaking for the global meet.

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The men’s 5,000m has a quota of 42 athletes while 27

athletes can compete in the 10,000m at the Worlds. Jay Kumar’s steady
performance graph at World
U20 augurs well for future
Gulveer Singh Delhi’s international teenage runner Jay
Kumar was the most consistent quarter-
to lead miler in the junior group this year.

Army’s 26 years old Asian Games bronze Highlight of his performance graph
medalist in men’s 10,000m track race, Gulveer was season and personal best of 46.86
Singh will be among eight-member senior seconds clocked during South Asian
team that will represent India at the Asian Cross Athletics
Country scheduled to be held on October 20 in Federation
Hong Kong. Gulveer Singh had an excellent run competition
held earlier in
on the track this season. Earlier, in the last week
September in
of September he improved his national 5,000m
Chennai. Delhi’s
track record to 13:11.82 seconds during the
18 years old
World Athletics Continental Tour in Japan. gave his best
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) selection at 2024 World
committee has also selected the national team U20 Athletics
in senior and junior group for the South Asian Championships
Cross-Country Championship to be held on held in August
November 24 in Islamabad, Pakistan. in Lima, Peru. He competed in three
“The participation of the athletes at the South individual 400m races in Peru. And four
Asian Cross-Country Championship in Pakistan relay races, including mixed 4x400m and
will be subject to fitness,” Adille Sumariwalla, men’s 4x400m heats. He finished in the
president AFI said. top six in the individual 400m at World U20.
National team that will compete at the Asian
Kumar was a member of the national
Cross Country will also get the opportunity to
U20 4x400m relay team that clocked a
compete at the South Asian Cross Country in
national record of 3:08.10 on August 30 at
Pakistan in November. “But if any athlete is unfit
World U20 Athletics Championships. “He
will be dropped from the national squad,” the AFI (Kumar) was outstanding this season,” N
president added. Ramesh, chief junior coach said. “He will
be one to watch in the 2025 season.”

Team At the SAAF competition held in Chennai,

Men: Gulveer Singh, Karthik Kumar, Abhishek Pal, Kumar won gold with a time of 46.86
Arun Rathod. seconds, a personal and season best.
Women: Ankita, Seema, Sanjivani Jadhav, Sonika. “It was a good opportunity for me to
compete in the SAAF competition
Junior: Men: Amardeep Pal, Kripashankar on home soil and further improve my
Yadav, Vinod Singh, Gaurav Bhaskar Bhosale.
personal best in the 400m,” the promising
Women: Ekta Dey, Sunita Devi, Shilpa Dhiora, junior athlete explained.
Prachi Ankush Devkar.

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Several meet records were erased Regional competitions to give fillip

at fourth edition of Indian Open to 2025 domestic calendar
U23 Athletics meet
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has
More than half a dozen meet records were incorporated regional competitions in the 2025
erased during the three-day fourth edition of calendar year to give fillip to track and field in the
Indian Open U23 Athletics Meet in Patna, Bihar. country. The regional events will also give more
The competition was conducted at Patna’s opportunity to athletes in their own backyard. The
Patliputra Sports Complex in the last week of AFI has identified affiliated state units to conduct the
September. While Odisha’s sprinter Animesh additional competition from next year.
Kujur walked away with best male athlete of the
meet, the honour in the women’s group went to Four states namely --- Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana,
Gujarat’s Devyaniba Zala, who won gold in 400m Punjab---will conduct regional competitions in the
(53.53 seconds). Apart from winning gold in the North. While Gujarat, Maharashtra, ASI Pune, Madhya
men’s 100m dash, Kujur displayed brilliant curve Pradesh and Rajasthan have been identified for
running to add 200m gold to his kitty. central and western zones. Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar
and Odisha will also conduct regional events. The
During the 100m semis, Kujur clocked 10.38 Southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Anju Bobby
seconds, which was better than the previous Sports Foundation, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and
meet record of 10.39 seconds. The Odisha’s Telangana have been identified to organise regional
sprinter also broke the 200m meet record. His gold competition which has been grouped in B category.
winning time was 20.65 seconds, which was better The main goal of the new regional competitions is
than his own meet record of 20.87 seconds set to provide opportunities to young athletes whose
in 2023. Haryana’s javelin thrower Jyoti was also performance has been modest in the previous year.
cynosure of all eyes as she entered her name in Since the competition will be conducted at regional
the record books by improving her own javelin level across the country, athletes will have to travel
throw record by a big margin. Jyoti got the big less to compete.
throw on her fifth attempt (58.49m), which was
better than her own previous record of 52.77m set The AFI has also relaxed entry standards for the
in 2023. Uttarakhand’s Ankita, who participated in regional meets. This is to allow athletes having
the 5,000m heats at Paris Olympic Games, tested potential to showcase their talent to gain valuable
her endurance over the 3,000m steeplechase in experience and climb the ladder. The regional
Patna. She won gold. Overall Indian Open U23 events will also act as build up competitions for main
Athletics Meet turned out to be a good platform domestic events. During the regional meets ranking
for athletes to test their skills ahead of the 2025 points will be awarded to the athletes. Top athletes
season. at the regional level will get a chance to graduate to
the main domestic circuit even if their performance is
below the entry criteria set by AFI.

Each regional competition will have different

disciplines depending on the popularity of a
particular event in that area. AFI will monitor the
regional events, including branding and live
streaming. The AFI will also provide technical support
to the state units but the local organising committee
will have to provide accommodation to the
Animesh Kujur technical staff.

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SAAF meet turned out to be an excellent platform

for junior athletes on the home soil
The three-day South Asian Athletics Federation
held from September 11 to 13 in Chennai turned
out to be an excellent platform for junior athletes
to end the 2024 season on high note, N Ramesh,
chief junior athletics coach said. “Podium finish
with a meet record during SAAF competition will
certainly encourage young athletes to carry on
the good work forward,” chief junior athletics
coach added.

India won the overall championship but Sri

Lanka sprinters battled for supremacy in the
relays. India topped the medal chart with 48
medals, including 21 gold, 22 silver and five
bronze medals. Sri Lanka finished second with 35
medals, nine of them gold. Sri Lanka also won
nine silver and 17 bronze medals. Bangladesh
was distant third with three bronze medals.

Several meet records were also improved

during the three-day regional competition in Pooja won high jump gold at SAAF
Chennai. The Indian 4x100m women’s relay
team comfortably won gold with a meet record of S Kumari recorded in 2018 in Colombo. Pooja
of 45.08 seconds. The previous meet record was comfortably won gold at 1.80m, which was
46.23 seconds. better than the previous meet record of 1.75m.
She made efforts to improve her national U20
The men’s 4x100m title went to Sri Lanka with high jump record of 1.83m set recently in Peru at
a meet record of 40.28 seconds. The previous the 2024 World Athletics U20 meet, but missed to
record was 41.27 seconds set in 2007. India’s cross the bar at 1.84m.
Anisha won gold in women’s discus throw with a
distance of 49.91m to better the previous meet On his way to gold in men’s shot put, Siddharth
record of 48.60m set by A Bajwa in 2018. Choudhary hurled the iron ball to a distance
of 19.19m, a meet record. Previous record was
Meet record was also erased in the men’s 18.53m. Compatriot Anurag Singh Kaler won silver
discus throw by Ritik. His gold winning throw was with a distance of 18.91m.
55.64m which was better than the earlier meet
record 54.44m set by Sachin in 2013 in Ranchi, “Regional competitions have its advantages
Jharkhand. as competitors will have to travel less and at
the same time get good competition close to
India’s Unnathi Aiyappa also improved the home,” the chief junior athletics coach added.
women’s 100m hurdles time. On her way to
winning gold medal she clocked 13.93 seconds, All seven SAAF countries competed in the three-
which was better than the previous meet mark day competition in Chennai.

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 Indian contingent won overall
A T H L E T I C S F E D E R ATIO N O F IND IA SEPTEMBER - 2024

trophy at SAAF meet in Chennai

I N D I A P L A Y S H E R E

Athletics Federation of India www.indianathletics.in