The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) would be sending its entries for the 19th Asian athletics championships, to be held in Kobe, Japan, from July 7, past the original, official deadline.
That deadline happened to be May 31 last.
By then not even half of the prominent Indian athletes had put in an appearance in a competition.
Moreover, the performances achieved in the Indian and Asian Grand Prix meets were well below par.
Under the circumstances it would have been almost impossible for the AFI to name its final team.
The Japanese federation has reportedly agreed to the suggestion of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) to extend the deadline since a few countries including India have competitions lined up this month.
“Entries will need to be submitted by mid-June,” said an AAA spokesman from Singapore on Friday.
Unrealistic
The May 31 deadline was not only unrealistic but also not within the permitted gap of 15 days prior to the competition allowed under the rules of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), an AFI spokesman said on Friday.
There is actually no IAAF rule for a deadline for regional competitions even though the IAAF does provide a 15-day gap for its competitions including the World championships.
This is considered as the yardstick though it is not a rule as such.
Meeting
The AFI has now plans to hold a selection committee meeting on June 16 and name its team based on the performance of the athletes in the National inter-State meet in Bangalore, starting on Saturday.
That team would be forwarded to the Japanese federation the next day. The AFI had already sent a provisional list of athletes.
Competition calendars are finalized well in advance the world over.
The Indian calendar could have been so arranged as to finalise a team by May 31.
The AFI has stuck to an age-old script that sees it submit entries at the last minute.
