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{{Short description|National governing body for Athletics sport in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox sport governing body
|name = Athletics Federation of India
|abbrev = AFI
|logo = Athletics Federation of India.png
|logosize =
|sport = [[Sport of athletics|Athletics]]
|category =
|image =
|caption =
|jurisdiction = [[India]]
|founded = {{Start date and age|1946}}
|aff = [[World Athletics]]
|affdate =
|region = [[Asian Athletics Association]]
|regionyear =
|headquarters = G-3, Community Center, C Block, Naraina Vihar, New Delhi - 110028
|location = [[New Delhi]], India
|president = [[Bahadur Singh Sagoo]]
|chairperson =
|chair =
|chiefexec =
|vicepresident = [[Anju Bobby George]]

[[Jayanta Malla Baruah]]
|director =
|secretary = Sandeep Mehta
|coach = {{ubl
|{{flagicon|GBR}} James Hillier
|{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Sergey Makarov (javelin thrower)|Sergey Makarov]]
|{{flagicon|JAM}} Jason Dawson
|{{flagicon|JAM}} Jerry Lee Holness
}}
|womenscoach =
|key staff =
|operating income =
|sponsor =
|year closed =
|replaced =
|prevfounded =
|url = https://indianathletics.in/
|countryflag = IND
}}
The '''Athletics Federation of India''' is the national governing body for the [[sport of athletics]] in [[India]], and is responsible for conducting competitions in the country. It was formed in 1943.<ref>[https://www.indianathletics.in/about-afi About Us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722175938/https://indianathletics.in/about-afi/ |date=22 July 2019 }}. Indian Athletics. Retrieved 2019-06-29.</ref> It is affiliated to [[World Athletics]] and [[Asian Athletics Association]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Asian Athletics |title=Asian Athletics Association {{!}} Promoting Athletic Excellence in Asia |url=https://asianathletics.com/member-federation/?country=in |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=www.asianathletics.com |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Anju Bobby George]] is the vice president. It was formerly called the Amateur Athletic Federation of India.

==History==
Athletics Federation of India, then Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI), was formed in 1946 at the initiative of Prof. G.D. Sondhi and [[Maharaja Yadavindra Singh|Maharaja Yadvindra Singh]]. [[Guru Dutt Sondhi|G.D. Sondhi]] was its first President for a short while, resigning on 13 April 1950.

AFI organises the following national-level athletics competitions in the country:

* [[Indian National Open Athletics Championships]]
* Indian National Inter-State Senior Athletics championships
* National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Competition
* Indian Open Racewalking competition
* Indian Open Javelin throw competition
* National Federation Cup under-20 Athletics championships
* National Javelin Throw Competition {{Efn|This competition was founded, announced by AFI in 2021. It is scheduled to host on 7 August 2022, to commemorate India's first Olympic gold medal in Javelin throw by [[Neeraj Chopra]]<ref name=O>{{cite web | last=Venkat | first=Rahul | title=Indian athletics calendar 2022: Season to start February 26 | website=Olympics.com | date=8 May 2022 | url=https://olympics.com/en/news/indian-athletics-calendar-2022-season | access-date=14 April 2023}}</ref>|name=O|group=note}}
* North Zone Junior Athletics championship
* Indian open 400m competition
* South zone junior Athletics championship
* West zone junior Athletics championship
* East zone junior Athletics championship
* National youth Athletics championship
* National open athletics championship
* Indian Open Under-23 Athletics competition
* National junior Athletics championship
* National Inter-district junior Athletics meet.
* Source - <ref>{{Cite web |title=Indian athletics calendar 2022: Full schedule. |url=https://olympics.com/en/news/indian-athletics-calendar-2022-season |access-date=28 October 2022 |website=www.olympics.com}}</ref>

==Coaches==
British James Hillier is the sprint and hurdles coach.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-22 |title=James Hillier’s journey: From working as property surveyor to coaching India’s fastest woman hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and fastest man Amlan Borgohain |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/james-hilliers-journey-from-working-as-property-surveyor-to-coaching-indias-fastest-woman-hurdler-jyothi-yarraji-and-fastest-man-amlan-borgohain-8902869/lite/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref> Jamaican Jason Dawson is the men's 400m relay coach since Russian [[Galina Bukharina]] left.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-23 |title=Behind relay team’s memorable run: New-found belief, taskmaster coach |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/behind-relay-teams-memorable-run-new-found-belief-taskmaster-coach-8995475/lite/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref> Jamaican Jerry Lee Holness is the women's 400m relay coach. [[Sergey Makarov (javelin thrower)|Sergey Makarov]] is the [[javelin throw]] coach.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selvaraj |first=Jonathan |date=2024-10-01 |title=AFI shortlists former World Champion Makarov as India’s new javelin throw coach, awaits SAI approval |url=https://sportstar.thehindu.com/athletics/afi-shortlists-sergey-makarov-india-new-javelin-throw-coach-olympic-medallist-neeraj-chopra-sai-approval-news/article68706463.ece/ |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=sportstar.thehindu.com |language=en}}</ref> Uwe Hohn and Klaus Bartonietz have previously coached javelin throwers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-16 |title=India’s German javelin coach Uwe Hohn slams Olympics preparation |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/indias-german-javelin-coach-uwe-hohn-slams-olympics-preparation-7360808/lite/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>

==Controversies==
AFI has been under pressure for the last several years due to doping scandals. The entire {{nowrap|4 × 400 m}} women's relay that won gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games tested positive for an anabolic steroid.

The governing body's selection process for international teams has received public criticism. [[PU Chitra]], [[Ajay Kumar Saroj]] and [[Sudha Singh]] were excluded from the [[2017 World Championships in Athletics]] despite being eligible for entry by the [[International Association of Athletics Federations]] (the global governing body). Chitra lodged an appeal to the Kerala High Court in July 2017, though she was ultimately excluded as the court's request for inclusion was beyond the selection cut-off date. Commentator KP Mohan believed the right decision had been made to not include Chitra and several other Asian champions, given their low international ranking at that time, though he stated the controversy could have been avoided if the AFI had made its selection criteria clear before the start of the athletics season.<ref>Mohan, KP (2017-07-31). [https://scroll.in/field/845593/utter-mess-indias-athletics-body-took-the-right-call-with-pu-chitra-but-handled-it-poorly Utter mess: India’s athletics body took the right call with PU Chitra but handled it poorly]. Scroll. Retrieved 2020-03-03.</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{Notelist}}
{{Reflist| group=note}}

==See also==
* [[Sports in India]] – Overview of sports in India

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website|http://www.indianathletics.in/}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120731160540/http://www.indianathletics.in/tech/competition%20mannual%202010%282%29.pdf Competition Manual] in PDF)

{{Sports governing bodies in India}}
{{National Members of the International Association of Athletics Federations}}

[[Category:Athletics in India]]
[[Category:Sports governing bodies in India]]
[[Category:National members of the Asian Athletics Association]]
[[Category:Sports organizations established in 1946]]
[[Category:1946 establishments in India]]

Athletics Federation of India - Revision history

CleanupBot at 03:54, 22 March 2026