CHENNAI: Indian Open Athletics Championships, an event that was included in Athletics Federation of India's (AFI) domestic calendar earlier this year, has not seen too many entries in certain categories since it began on April 1. Some of the events had entries in ones and twos in the last three editions too. But the Chennai edition, which will be held today, seems to have an extensive entry list.
The men's 100m has some 54 entries while the 200m will witness around 35 participants. Similarly, 400m has 40 entries. Even on events where there were few participants in the earlier meets, the numbers have increased a bit. Men's pole vault, too, has seen a healthy number.
The AFI had come out with a guideline for qualifying to compete at the senior national federation athletics competition in Kochi and has made it mandatory for all athletes to compete in at least one regional or Indian Open Athletics Competition.
The AFI's circular, dated April 1, said: "This notice is to inform you that the AFI has made it mandatory for all athletes seeking to qualify for the 28th National Federation Senior Athletics Championships 2025, scheduled to take place in Kochi, Kerala, from 21st -24th April 2025, to participate in either the Indian Open Athletics Meet or the Indian Grand Prix in the year 2025." Chennai is the last opportunity for all to qualify. However, it needs to be seen how many turn up on Tuesday.
Going by the response in the earlier Indian Open events, it seemed athletes were not interested in competing. Take for instance in the first Indian Open meet in Sangrur, Punjag. In the men's 800m, there were three competitors, while in the 5000m there were four. What seemed more embarrassing was the 10,000m where only two competed. There were did not starts (DNS) and disqualifications (DQ) as well.
In the women's section, there were more than one categories where only one athlete competed. In the 5000m, of the two, one did not start. In high jump, only one entered and competed. There were three entries in the 10,000m but only two competed.
There have been such instances in the next two Indian Open athletics in Nadiad where in some events there were two or three competitors. This has been the case in Indian Grand Prix I as well. However, in Ranchi the trend changed a bit with some top javelin throwers entering the fray.
The AFI has said that this had already been the case since the beginning of the season. The circular is not an afterthought or has been taken out because of low turnout. According to an AFI official, the idea is to make athletes compete in more than just one competition before qualifying for Asian Athletics Championships, which is scheduled to be held in May. The Senior National Federation Athletics in Kochi competition would serve as the qualifying event for the Asian meet.