Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 14 (ANI): Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) have entered into a long-term partnership to enable the holistic growth of athletics in India.

New Delhi Mar 27 PTI Rio Olympian Nitendra Singh Rawat and Jyoti Gawate clinched the mens and womens crowns in the Ageas Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon here on Sunday Six men elite runners crossed the entry standard prescribed by the Athletics Federation of India for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games later this year Rawat led the mens race on a hot morning winning the full marathon title with an impressive timing of 21605 Anish Thapa Magar 21641 and Anil Kumar Singh 21647 claimed the first and second runner-up positions in what turned out to be an intense battle for supremacy Gawate claimed the top honour in the womens full marathon Her 30120 was however below the AFI entry standard for the two multi-sport events later this year Nupur Singh 31603 and Disket Dolma 32206 grabbed the other two places on the podium The AFI entry standards for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in July-August is 21840 for men and 23819 for women The corresponding entry standards for the Asian Games in September are 21848 and 23928 respectively Ashish Kumar 21704 AB Belliappa 21709 and Kalidas Laxman Hirave 21814 were the other three men who went under the AFI entry standard The marathon was exciting with the runners giving it their everything Karthik Raman Chief Marketing Officer Ageas Federal Life Insurance said Organised by NEB Sports the marathon is recognised as a National Marathon Championship by the AFI In all 13000 runners took part in the event with the half marathon drawing over 6500 and the 10K over 2000 The full marathon too saw close to 2500 participants making it the years first big run Rupan Debnath won the mens half-marathon in 11202 while Tashi Ladol clinched the corresponding womens race in 12748 Abhishek Choudhary grabbed the mens 10K title with a time of 03203 while Ashvini Jadhav claimed the corresponding womens race clocking 03922 Results Full Marathon Men 1 Nitendra Rawat 21605 2 Anish Thapa Magar 21641 3 Anil Singh 21647 Women 1 Jyoti Gawate 30120 2 Nupur Singh 31603 3 Aradhana Reddy 31934 Half-Marathon Men 1 Rupan Debnath 11202 2 Amit Khanduri 11219 3 Anil Jindal 11233 Women 1 Tashi Ladol 12748 2 Seema Yadav 12854 3 Sara Bissell 13529 PTI PDS PDS ATK ATK

Guwahati Mar 25 PTI Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has extended his best wishes to neighbouring state Nagaland as it prepares to host its first international level sporting event Nagaland capital Kohima will be hosting the South Asian Cross Country Championship on Saturday In a message by Sarma shared by Nagaland Athletics Association through Twitter he wrote It is a matter of great pride and honour that India is hosting such a prestigious athletics meet North-East region is increasingly getting into the limelight as a top sports centre in the country and hosting of South Asian Cross Country Championship by Nagaland is another testimony to the fact Sarma added He said the Championship will provide aspiring players from the region to watch top athletes from the South Asian countries in action and will inspire the youth to take up sports Sarma expressed his happiness at the Championship being organised in Kohima under the aegis of South Asian Athletics Federation and The Athletics Federation of India AFI with active cooperation of the local state government Initially scheduled for January 15 this year the Championship was postponed due to surge in COVID-19 cases during that period Along with the second South Asian Athletic Federation Cross-Country Championship the 56th National Cross Country Athletics Championship is also being held in Kohima on Saturday The championships will be held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Kohima and more than 600 athletes will participate in the event from all the AFI affiliated states and union territories of the country and also South Asian countries PTI SSG RG RG

New Delhi [India], March 12 (ANI): India will field Shot Putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Long Jumper M Sreeshankar and sprinter Dutee Chand in the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 2022 starting from March 18 at the Stark Arena in the Serbian Capital.

New Delhi [India], March 2 (ANI): Sports Authority of India (SAI) with the help of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) recently helped U-20 World silver medallist Amit Khatri reach Muscat, Oman where he is set to compete in the upcoming World Athletics Racewalking Championships.

Thiruvananthapuram Feb 28 PTI National record holder long jumper M Sreeshankars return to action after a horror show at the Tokyo Olympics will be keenly watched when he lines up for the inaugural National Open Jumps competition here on Tuesday The 22-year-old Kerala jumper had a forgettable performance at the Tokyo Olympics finishing 13th in his qualification group with an effort of 769m a far cry from the 826m he cleared last year The disappointing show led to the sacking of his father S Murali from being his coach by the Athletics Federation of India AFI Sreeshankar was on the verge of missing the Tokyo Olympics after faring poorly at the fitness trials just before the Games The AFI had cleared him after his father submitted a written assurance that Sreeshankar would produce at least the qualification performance in Tokyo But that was not to be in the end The youngster would look to forget all these unsavoury incidents of last year and start the season on a confident note with the World Championships Commonwealth Games and Asian Games lined up in the year ahead As many as 75 athletes including 29 women will compete in the eight events in the meet conceived by AFI to give the jumpers a competition at the start of the season Sreeshankars battle with Kerala team-mate Muhammed Anees Yahiya can result in a high quality competition at the long jump pit though many athletes could be using the meet as part of warm-up for the bigger competitions ahead in the season Yugant Shekhar Singh would be eager to make it a triangular contest The mens triple jump also promises to be an exciting contest The 2018 Asian Games gold medallist Arpinder Singh will be eager to battle it out with the likes of Abdulla Aboobacker Karthik Unnikrishnan Eldhose Paul and Gaily Venister Devasahayam Sandra Babu and Ancy Sojan two of the top five womens long jumpers last season could be seen in a thrilling duel but Nayana James is slated to return to her first competition after August 2019 James is the only jumper in the field with a personal best of over 650m mark PTI PDS PDS ATK ATK

Kohima Feb 23 PTI The 2nd South Asian Athletic Federation SAAF Cross-Country championship and the 56th National Cross Country Athletics Championship will be held in Kohima on March 26 a top official of the Nagaland Athletic Association NAA said NAA president Abu Metha said on Tuesday the tournament was initially scheduled to be held on January 15 but the Athletics Federation of India AFI postponed it due to rapid spread of Omicron variant of coronavirus He said SAAF and AFI have come up with the new date of March 26 in consultation with the Government of Nagaland following the easing of the pandemic situation in the state The tournament will be the first ever international athletics event in Nagaland The championships will be held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Kohima and more than 600 athletes will participate in the event from all the AFI affiliated states and union territories of the country and also South Asian countries he added PTI NBS RG RG

Washington [US], December 21 (ANI): For the second year in a row, the AFI Awards luncheon, a major stop on the film and TV awards circuit, has been impacted by a surge in COVID cases.

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], September 13 (ANI): In a major decision, the Athletics Federation of India on Monday decided that it would redesign and strengthen its junior programme to be able to build on the gains of Neeraj Chopra's Olympic Games gold medal and the three-medal haul in the World Athletics U20 Championships.

New Delhi [India] September 9 (ANI): Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has invited applications for the recruitment of foreign coaches and support staff in various disciplines of athletics from the current period until the 2024 Olympics and extendable until 2028.