The Athletics Federation of India (AFI), therefore, has tweaked its domestic competition calendar with an aim to push athletes toward “multiple peaks” in a year and not focus on just one good performance or on peaking early in the season.
AFI has increased the number of competitions to 40 from 32, has decided to lower qualification standards and give exposure to more talents in elite domestic meets, and will begin a new series called the Indian Athletics Series, having 16 meets and a Finals to be held at the JLN Stadium in New Delhi, that makes a return in domestic fixture after three years.
The World Athletics Continental Tour meet in Bhubaneswar has been upgraded to silver level, bringing more world ranking points. AFI will also host its first National Indoor Championships.
AFI said one of the things they have noticed is athletes peaking early and being unable to sustain their performance throughout the season.
There are quite a few instances of that happening. Praveen Chithravel equalled his national-record jump of 17.37m in the National Federation Cup in April. It helped him qualify for the World Championships, but it has been downhill since then. Long jumper Shaili Singh’s best effort of 2025 came in April in her second competition of the year (6.64m). She was unable to push herself beyond that in eight more competitions in the season. Gurindervir Singh smashed the then national record in the 100m, clocking 10.20s in February at the Indian GP and lost steam thereafter. Quartermiler Rupal’s season’s best came in March at the Indian Open (52.41 sec).
At the World Championships in Tokyo this year, several athletes were not able to live up to expectations. The few positives were Sachin Yadav in javelin, Sarvesh Kushare in high jump, and Pooja in 800m.
“There is a tendency among some of our athletes, as well as the coaches who encourage them, to peak in competitions early in the season. For example, Praveen Chithravel jumped 17.37 in March and could never repeat that performance even in the World Championships or any other competition. They should not peak very early and then not be able to maintain their performance, said chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair.
“If you look at an elite international sprinter up to 400 meters, they participate in 12 to 13 competitions before the main competition. They also participate in multiple disciplines. We have analyzed all this,” said Nair.
“We have planned these competitions for the ‘general preparation’ period, ‘specific preparation’ period, and the ‘competition’ period. So we are making the coaches understand how to approach this calendar, plan training, and keep the athletes competitive and sharp to give their best in competitions.”
Nair said they have held a few seminars with coaches on the need to prepare athletes to remain competitive throughout the year. “That’s how coaches the world over are working . You see athletes giving their best several times in a year.”
The Federation Cup will be held in Ranchi, Jharkhand, from May 22–25, while the National Inter-State meet will be in Bhubaneswar from July 8–12 and is likely to be the selection trials for the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. The CWG in Glasgow (July 23 to August 2) and Asian Games (September 19 to October 4) are bunched closely, and therefore AFI said it will discuss the selection criteria and priority disciplines.
AFI has also decided to lower the qualification standards so that budding athletes can compete in these meets. “In the Indian Athletics Series, we are also introducing a few events for juniors so that they can have more competitions,” said AFI’s Director of Competitions, Ravinder Choudhary.
AFI said that for the Federation Cup Championships, athletes need to participate in a minimum of two competitions, and for the Inter-State Championships and National Open Championships, three build-up competitions, including a state meet, are mandatory criteria.
