South Asian Cross Country Championship: New wave of pandemic keeps athletics federation officials more focused 

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is closely monitoring the pandemic situation as the South Asian Cross-Country Championship is nearly three weeks away in India’s northeastern state of Nagaland.

The first international athletics competition in India in 2022 will take place in Kohima on January 15. The participating teams include Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan and Pakistan.

The visa process has started and we are constantly in touch with both sports and home ministries, Adille Sumariwalla, president of the AFI, said on Thursday.

“The next three weeks are crucial as AFI will be closely monitoring the situation due to the Omicorn virus, which medical experts say is rapidly spreading,” Adille said. “The current situation is a bit unpredictable at the moment. We hope the situation will be okay in mid-January and there will be flights for foreign athletes to reach the venue of the competition.”

The National Cross-Country Championship will also take place at the same venue on January 15.

The pandemic disrupted the 2020 competitive calendar. It was a challenging task for AFI to conduct its events in the 2021 season as well, due to the second wave.

The inaugural edition of the National U23 Athletics Championships was conducted in September in Delhi. The third edition of the National 400m Championships and National Javelin throw Championships were also held in Delhi in October. The above three events were part of the AFI’s national domestic calendar.

The Covid-19 pandemic guidelines issued by the government to conduct sports activities were followed during all the domestic competitions, said AFI chief.

With the new wave of the Covid-19 virus (the Omicorn variant) rapidly spreading across several countries of Europe, Asia and India, AFI has its fingers crossed.

“We are on track to conduct the South Asian Cross-Country Championships in Nagaland unless and until a situation arises where the government orders for a complete lockdown in the coming days in India,” added Adille.

According to the AFI president, we don’t know what will happen tomorrow so we are moving ahead step by step.

“It’s a challenging situation. That’s all we can say right now,” concludes Adille.