AFI to launch 2023 season with National Cross Country Championships in Kaziranga

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Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi: The pristine Kaziranga National Park will be location from where the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will launch its 2023 competition schedule. The 57th National Cross Country Championships will be run on a course in Kaziranga on January 7 and 8. It will be the first of the 18 National-level competitions that AFI will conduct next year.

AFI President Adille J. Sumariwalla said the Federation was particularly happy that its flagship National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet (NIDJAM) would be back on the annual calendar after a three-year gap due to the Covid19 pandemic. “We are excited that Bihar has come forward to support NIDJAM in a big way and will host it in Patna,” he said.

Mr. Sumariwalla said the domestic calendar has been prepared with an eye on the international competition in 2023. “We have many events in which our athletes can showcase the progress being made. AFI is confident that Indian athletics will continue to grow in the right direction and trajectory,” he said.

The World Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat (March 4 and 5) would be the first major meet for Indians. The Asian Championships in Pattaya, Thailand (July 12 to 16) assumes importance as the winners get direct qualification for the World Championships in Budapest (August 19 to 27). The Asian Games is scheduled for Hangzhou (September 23 to October 8).

For the juniors, the much-postponed Asian Junior Athletics Championships would be held in Yecheon, South Korea from June 4 to 7 ahead of the World U20 championships in Lima, Peru from August 20 to 25.

The schedule:

National Competition

January 7 and 8: 57th National Cross Country Championships, Kaziranga National Park, Assam
January 12 to 14: 18th National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet, Patna, Bihar
February 14 and 15: 10th Indian Open Race Walking Competition, Ranchi, Jharkhand
March 1: 2nd Indian Open Throws Competition, IIS, Bellary, Karnataka
March 2: 2nd Indian Open Jumps Competition, IIS, Bellary, Karnataka
March 5 and 6: 4th Indian Open 400m Competition, LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
March 10 to 12: 18th National Youth Athletics Championships, Udupi, Karnataka
March 20: Indian Grand Prix – 1, LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
March 27: Indian Grand Prix – 2, LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
April 2: Indian Grand Prix – 3, Bengaluru, Karnataka
April 10: Indian Grand Prix – 4, Bengaluru, Karnataka
May 15 to 17: 21st Junior Federation Cup Championships, Thiruvannamali, Tamil Nadu
June 12 to 15: 26th Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
July 26 to 30: 62nd National Inter-State Athletics Championships, Ranchi, Jharkhand
August 7: 2nd National Javelin Day (Neeraj Chopra’s Olympic victory day), India
September 10: Indian Grand Prix – 5, NIS Patiala, Punjab
October 11 to 14: 62nd National Open Athletics Championships, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
October 29 to 31: 3rd Indian Open U23 Athletics Championships, Chandigarh
November 4 to 7: 38th National Junior Athletics Championships, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Zonal competitions

October 15 to 17: North Zone Athletics Championships, Jammu & Kashmir
October 15 to 17: South Zone Athletics Championships, Warangal, Telangana
October 17 to 19: East Zone Athletics Championships, West Bengal/Nagaland
October 17 to 19: West Zone Athletics Championships, Kota/Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan

Other competitions

June 1 to 30: State Championships
August 16 to 30: Sports Board Championships (Departmental meets)
November 20 to December 20: District Championships.