New Delhi: Indian athletics is entering unchartered territory. From this season, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will do away with long-duration national coaching camps – except for the relay teams – and allow athletes to train in centres of their choice – be it private academies, armed forces training centres or designated SAI centres (National Centre of Excellence).

The objective is to expand the base of top-level athletes while giving them the option to train closer to home. AFI will continue to monitor their progress, for which it has formed a team. The ‘decentralisation of national camps’ policy was cleared at the AFI AGM held in Chandigarh on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We have given the (athletes) liberty to go and train at their centres – Army Sports Institute, Reliance Foundation, JSW, Tamil Nadu, Odisha state government centres, etc. Odisha has got foreign coaches, JSW has got foreign coaches. We are not forcing anybody to come to national camps. That is the most important part of decentralisation,” outgoing AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said in his capacity as the federation’s spokesperson.

AFI will have foreign coaches in certain centres and if the athletes wish to train there, they will have to pick these venues. The US middle and long distance coach, Scott Simmons, will join SAI’s NCOE in Bengaluru while javelin coach Sergey Makarov, an Olympic and world medallist, will be based in SAI Patiala. Jamaican sprints coaches (Jason Dawson for men and Jerry Holmes for women) have joined at the Thiruvananthapuram SAI centre.

“We will give the athletes’ names to the NCOEs on the basis of their preference… We have laid out the policy on domestic competitions, on how the athletes will have to come to the camps (selected centres) in the last eight weeks before major international meets,” he said.

Only the 400m runners (men, women and mixed relay teams) will train together in the national camp at Thiruvananthapuram’s SAI NCOE centre. Indian relay teams flopped at the Olympics and it has led to AFI announcing that they won’t be selected if they don’t train together.

“We’ll induct fresh talent from juniors, seniors and national GP circuit and invite them to NCOE to train with foreign coaches. Only those who join will be selected for international meets.”

According to reports, top 400m runners like Muhammed Anas had opted out of the camp. “Some did not want to train because they thought the workouts were too hard. Unless you do hard training no way you can win medals at the Olympics.”

Issues on the ground

The decentralised training plans are being implemented by AFI with SAI, which has announced the lists of athletes to be inducted in major SAI centres. It is learnt that steeplechaser Avinash Sable has joined the Bengaluru centre. Many athletes have opted to train with personal coaches. An Asian Games sprint medallist and a long jumper have joined separate private academies with their personal coaches.

“There is confusion among athletes on how the system will work. The top athletes can choose where they want to train. Those who have sponsors can go to private academies but what about the mid-level athletes who were only dependent on national camps for good training?” asked a former national coach.

Some athletes and coaches were not sure about the standard of the facilities. “In national camps, priority was given to India athletes and preparation was focussed – be it nutrition, diet, dedicated physios, masseurs, coaches,” said a middle-distance runner.

It was learnt that SAI will be looking to upgrade the facilities where top track and field athletes train. AFI’s monitoring cell will also submit the names of athletes based at different locations to the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) for including them for out-of-competition testing.

“Anything new is a difficult task but we have to do what is good in the long run for the sport. Look at the number of private academies, including states who are bringing in foreign coaches now. More we spread out, it will widen our base. The athletes can stay close to their homes, which was one of the biggest complaint we had in long camps. Instead of 150 athletes at national camps, at NCOEs we get 1,000 people to train. It will expand the base. It will also help raise the standard of the SAI NCOEs,” added Sumariwalla.