National inter-state meet preponed, Guwahati selected host

29 April 2018, Patiala (Punjab): The 58th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships (NISSAC) will now be held at the Sarusajai Sports Complex in Guwahati (Assam) from 26-29 June 2018. The four-day competition will serve as the final selection trial for Indian athletes for the 18th Asian Games to be held in Jakarta (Indonesia) from 18 August- 2 September, 2018.

The decision to prepone the inter-state meet which was earlier scheduled to be held in the month of July in Kolkata was taken by the members of AFI planning commission and national coaches in Patiala on Sunday.

AFI Deputy Chief Coach, Radhakrishnan Nair said, “The last date for sending final entries (entry by names) to the Organising Committee for Asian Games is 30 June 2018. And that is the reason we had to prepone the national inter-state meet by almost a month. The competition will serve as the final selection trials for the Asian Games 2018,”

“We also felt the need to relax the qualifying standards in some of the events due to rescheduling of the competition and it has been done. We are confident that at Jakarta Asian Games, we will win more number of medals as compared to 2014 Incheon Asian Games,” said Nair.

The deputy chief coach also informed that starting from May, Indian athletes training at different national camps will depart in groups for training abroad.

“All the athletes including those who went for Commonwealth Games 2018 joined the camps soon after they returned to India. Training will now continue abroad and most teams will be back by the second week of June before the inter-state competition,” said the coach.

AFI QUALIFYING GUIDELINES FOR ASIAN GAMES 2018

Important information related to Qualification Standards:

1) The 58th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships (NISSAC) is the final selection trial for Asian Games 2018. Participation in this final selection trail is mandatory for all athletes to be considered for selection in the Indian team until and unless AFI exempts an athlete from participation on his/her request due to specified reason or as per the advice of an AFI expert.

2) ONLY one athlete per event attaining qualifying standards set by AFI will be selected in the team. However, in case more than one athlete attains the qualifying standards set by AFI, it is the prerogative of selection committee to include or reject the entry of second athlete. If deemed tactically or technically necessary or in cases where chances/probability of winning more than one medal in the same event, more than one athlete attaining qualifying standard may be selected in the team. The decision of selection committee will be final in such cases.
3)  If none of the athletes achieve the qualification standard in a particular event as mentioned in the qualifying guidelines chart above, the Selection Committee may select the best athlete if there are chances/probability of winning a medal in the Asian Games 2018.

4) Those athletes who are not present at the National Coaching Camps and training elsewhere, their final selection in the team will be subject to their repeat performance in the confirmatory trials to be held on 15th August 2018. The venue for confirmatory trials will be intimated to such athletes by the Chief Coach. Under no circumstances, an unaccredited athlete will be allowed to attain these trials.

5) Athletes who are not part of the National Coaching Camps and are not monitored by the AFI coaches will not be permitted to attend the selection trials if they have not submitted their details for accreditation for the Asian Games before the deadline.