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The inaugural edition of the National Under-23 Athletics Championships will be a good platform for aspiring juniors to showcase their talent, feels Lalit Kumar Bhanot, Chairman Planning Commission of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). The three-day competition starts at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Monday and concludes Wednesday.
“We have introduced National U23 Athletics Championships to enable youngsters to exhibit their talent in the age group competition before moving to the senior division. We also hope it will bridge the gap between the junior and senior level,” Lalit Bhanot told Sportskeeda.
The concept of giving an additional competition to aspiring youngsters is based on the grounds that several juniors aren’t able to cope up with the pressure of performing at the senior level.
“Several promising young athletes who graduate to the senior level from junior group are not able to perform though there are exceptions. To encourage budding talent, the U23 age group competition will provide an opportunity for a smooth transition from juniors to seniors,” explained Bhanot.
In early 1990s, AFI had introduced U22 age group competitions to enable athletes from the U20 level to move to the U22 group and then graduate to the senior group. However, the experiment wasn’t fruitful. AFI had to scrap the event from its calendar.
“The U22 competition wasn’t beneficial as the gap between juniors (U20) and seniors was just two years and athletes were not able to adjust to the higher group that is senior level," Bhanot said.
"On the advice of the-then chief coach and other experts overseeing the national camps, the AFI decided to scrap the U22 competition," he added. "But the U23 track and field competition is quite popular in Europe. We hope it will be beneficial to upcoming athletes in India."
The three-day National U23 Athletics Championships is being organized at the end of the track and field season. Yet the AFI think tank believes it will be productive for aspiring young athletes to showcase their talent ahead of the highly 2022 competitive season.
The 2022 season will feature major multi-discipline competitions like the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in Great Britain and Hangzhou Asian Games in China.
The prestigious Eugene World Athletics Championships will also take place in the United States of America from July 15 to 24.
To restrict non-serious athletes from crowding the National U23 Athletics Championships, the AFI has entry standards for competitors. The A entry standard is for 20 years and above while B is for the under-20 age group. The AFI will issue participation certificates to those athletes who achieve minimum entry standards in the competition.
“Several non-serious athletes want to get participation certificates to get admission in colleges or for jobs. We have entry standards to restrict casual athletes. The AFI has also decided not to issue participation certificates to athletes if they fail to achieve the entry standards in the competition,” said Bhanot.
