4 min learnApr 18, 2026 08:41 PM IST
Athletics Federation of India (AFI) spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla has made a startling declare that 90 % of the artificial tracks used within the nation presently are substandard when it comes to materials, laying and marking.
Sumariwalla added that the governing physique was sad with the infrastructure high quality that has been licensed in India, including that the federation would look to make sure that all necessities are met.
“I’m not going to call the tracks, however I can let you know 90% plus tracks in India are substandard material-wise, laying-wise, marking-wise. We had a gathering with World Athletics in Tokyo (final yr throughout World Championships), they confirmed us some knowledge, which was fairly surprising,” Sumariwalla stated throughout a digital press convention. “The fabric used is substandard, the method is substandard, the granules used are substandard, the laying methodology is substandard.”
Through the Annual Basic assembly of AFI in Kohima on April 14 and 15, the federation determined to get entangled within the monitor certification. “They (World Athletics) weren’t proud of the standard that was being licensed. So AFI will now assist in certifying and making certain that each one requirements of measurement and high quality are met,” he defined.
He additionally claimed that rubber lower from tyres was placed on the monitor and painted pink to make it resemble an artificial monitor. “We have now seen as a substitute of polyurethane, solely rubber or tyre rubber being utilized in a number of tracks,” Sumariwalla, who can be vice chairman at World Athletics, stated.
When requested if AFI was concerned within the laying of the tracks, Sumariwalla stated, “We stayed away from this for a really very long time, as a result of the best way the tracks have been awarded, and so forth., is just not one thing that we need to get into. We’ve by no means licensed any monitor earlier. Nevertheless, any further, we’ll must get entangled as a result of World Athletics has referred to as us and stated you want to get entangled; we’ve no possibility.”
Whereas the tracks which have been licensed by World Athletics received’t must get recertified, the brand new tracks that shall be laid shall be monitored by AFI. “We truly carried out a course with overseas consultants coming to India to make our officers perceive how a monitor is to be measured, how a monitor is to be examined and what must be achieved in the course of the time when the laying occurs. So we had some overseas consultants who had come down to elucidate to us how that’s to be achieved,” he stated.
Story continues under this advert
5 groups for World Relays
21 Indian athletes will function within the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana, subsequent month throughout 5 occasions. “The Indian athletes will compete in 5 relay occasions out of six. We certified for all of the six occasions, however our groups will take part in 5 of them,” Sumariwalla added. “A 21-member Indian relay contingent will compete on South African soil.”
Within the two-day occasion, the highest 24 groups will compete in six occasions: ladies’s 4x100m relay, ladies’s 4x400m relay, males’s 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, 4x100m combined relay and 4x400m combined relay.
Indian Group: Males: Rajesh Ramesh, Manu TS, Amoj Jacob, Dharamveer Choudhary, Theerthesh Shetty, Nihal Joel William, Vishal TK (4x400m males’s relay and 4x400m combined relay).
Pranav Gaurav, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Ragul Kumar Ganesh Kumar, Harsh Satosh Raut, Tamilarasu S (4x100m males’s relay and 4x100m combined relay).
Ladies: Rashdeep Kaur, Kumari Saloni Nagar, Ansa Babu (all 4x400m combined relay). Tamanna, Sudeshna Hanmant Shivankar, Nithya Gandhe, Sneha SS, Srabani Nanda (4x100m ladies’s relay and 4x100m combined relay)
© The Indian Categorical Pvt Ltd