New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) Ninety per cent of the synthetic tracks currently used in the country are substandard “material-wise, laying-wise, marking-wise”, said Athletics Federation of India (AFI) spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla in a shocking revelation on Saturday.
Sumariwalla said the AFI has been told by World Athletics to get involved into the matter and clean up the mess. He, however, said there is no danger of results or performances of athletes being annulled due to the substandard tracks.
“I’m not going to name the tracks, but I can tell you 90% plus tracks in India are substandard material-wise, laying-wise, marking-wise. We had a meeting with World Athletics in Tokyo (last year during World Championships), they showed us some data, which was quite shocking,” Sumariwalla said during a virtual press conference.
“The material used is substandard, the process is substandard, the granules used are substandard, the laying methodology is substandard. The thickness is substandard, instead of polyurethane, only rubber or tyre rubber is being used in some.
“We have seen tracks where they put rubber of tyres below and only put red paint on top. It’s that bad. Now what will happen? That will get finished over a period of time. In a few months, it will be finished. Nobody will be able to run on it.
He said the AFI, during its Annual General Meeting in Kohima on April 14 and 15, has decided to get involved in track certification.
“They (World Athletics) were not happy with the quality that was being certified. So AFI will now help in certifying and ensuring that all standards of measurement and quality are met,” said the former AFI president and currently World Athletics vice president.
“We are working out on how we are going to go about. What is happening is that a lot of people are fly-by-night. They’re not even proper vendors. So we need to look at the quality of the vendors. We will probably come out with a list of vendors who are genuine vendors worldwide and whose substances are to be used.
“We actually conducted a course with foreign experts coming to India to make our officials understand how a track is to be measured, how a track is to be tested what needs to be done during the time when the laying happens. So we had some foreign experts who had come down to explain to us how that is to be done.
Sumariwalla said the AFI was never involved in track certification earlier.
“We stayed away from this for a very long time, because the way the tracks have been awarded etc. is not something that we want to get into.
“We’ve never certified any track earlier. However, from now on we’ll have to get involved because World Athletics has called us and said you need to get involved, we have no option.
Asked if the recently-laid Mondo track at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was under the scanner, Sumariwalla said, “No, I don’t know. I’m not going to get into details on which track and where.
He, however, made it clear that India has World Athletics certified tracks and those need not be re-certified again.
“Substandard means quality is not good. It may be too soft, too hard. That doesn’t make a difference to World Athletics. Except that in two years, a track which should last 10 years will be finished. And you have to relay it.
“You will not get good performance if you have rubber of tyres instead of polyurethane. The performance itself will be slower,” Sumariwalla said when asked if World Athletics can scrap results produced on such tracks.
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AFI’s directive on sponsorship deal of athletes put on hold ========================================== Earlier this month, the AFI had made it mandatory for the track and field athletes to get its prior approval before entering into agreements with sponsors, including private entities.
But, Sumariwalla said a decision was taken during the AGM in Kohima to put the directive on hold.
“The AFI had a healthy discussion and we decided we will have a little more consultation on this. So we will keep this open for the next three months for further consultation. We have put it on hold for the next three months.
“However, we requested that since people have some doubts, we will have a larger consultation, so that everybody’s doubts are put to rest.
He said the AFI is not getting any benefit from the sponsorship deals of the athletes.
“AFI is not charging a single dime either to the athlete or to the sponsor. We are giving a service. The issue is there are contracts where there are no exit clauses. There are contracts which we have seen where the athlete is supposed to do 100 things and what money they will get paid.
“There are contracts if the athlete gets injured, the athlete gets thrown out. Do you know that there are 14 non-cricketing sports people who have been looked at by EOW (Economic Offence Wing) because the contracts fall under the gambit of gaming etc. There are serious issues.
“And if we don’t protect our athletes who have no great education and everything is promised and then nothing is delivered, it’s high time that somebody has to step in to protect our athletes. Secondly, even the sponsors themselves have complained..
“So we have to protect all our stakeholders. But the most important is to protect my athletes. And that is my fiduciary duty to protect the athlete.” PTI PDS PDS KHS
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