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Bangalore: Athletics Federation of India's bluff was called on May 17. The national body's contention that preparations for the Commonwealth Games would suffer if long distance runners took to the roads of Bangalore for the Sunfeast World 10K turned out to be a poor excuse when it was learnt that the core group preparing for the Delhi Games was training on road in Ooty.
"The CWG campers are training on road in Ooty for months now. So why is the Federation saying that the performance will be affected if athletes compete in SW10K? In fact, as there is no track in Ooty, the athletes come down to Coimbatore every alternate day to practice on the synthetic track," informed sources told TOI. Around 40 athletes, including juniors, competing in distances ranging from 800m-10,000m, are undergoing training in Ooty under Russian coach Dr Nikolay Sensariev.
The new revelations contradict AFI's move to deny permission to athletes to compete in SW10K. AFI secretary general Dr Lalit K Bhanot said on May 14 that "at the AFI annual general meeting in Manesar in February concern was expressed over India's best distance runners being affected by road running, especially in the year of the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. It will take nearly a month for the athletes to recover and return to track after running on road".
Athletes ready to defy AFI ban: Meanwhile, after being pushed to the wall by a stubborn federation, country's top athletes are now getting ready to defy the AFI's diktat and race in the SW10K as it became clear to them that AFI is not allowing any athlete, and not just the campers, to run in Bangalore. "The athletes are ready to defy the ban. They are ready to face all the consequences and are ready to expose the wrongdoings of the Federation," sources said.
"What the AFI is doing is wrong. Recently, they threw several top athletes out of the CWG camp citing one reason or the other, now they are telling them not to run in SW10K as it will affect their preparations for CWG. It is clear that AFI's arguments are dubious," sources added. "On the one hand they throw the athletes out of the camp and on the other they want them to prepare by not competing in the Sunfeast World 10K," they said.
Sources also said that AFI bosses are backing coach Snesariev who has thrown all 5,000m and 10,000m runners out of the CWG camp. "There is no one left in the camp. Despite repeated requests to Bhanot, the top athletes, who won laurels for the country including in the Asian GP last year, were not taken back. These athletes are now spending their money to stay in Bangalore and training for the Games, hoping AFI will take them back into the camp," sources said.
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