India invites athletes for 60th National Athletics; last qualifier before Tokyo Olympics

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Saturday invited athletes from Asian countries for the 60th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships (NISSAC) that will be held in Patiala from June 25-29. The body has invited athletes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, and Chinese Taipei.

The Athletics Federation of India has announced that it will conduct 24 events at NIS Campus while 19 events will be held at Punjabi University grounds for the final qualifying event. Due to the COVID-19 situation, two venues will host the event. 

The National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships by the AFI is the last qualifying event for the Tokyo Olympics which are slated to be held between July-August.

PM Modi holds review meeting on Tokyo Olympics 

On June 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting over the preparation of athletes for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2021. Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said that PM Modi has appealed to all to cheer for the athletes. India has also unveiled its ' Olympic kits', the celebrations of which have been curtailed down due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation. 

"Some of the participants for the Tokyo Olympics are present here at the moment. We could have had a grand launch but due to the prevailing pandemic situation, we have curtailed down the program and doing it on a controlled scale. Today is an important day as 50 days from today, the event will begin. Today we mark the unveiling of the dress which our players will don at the Olympics." Rijiju said.

Will Tokyo Olympics be held in 2021? 

Even with the strong internal resistance against the Tokyo Olympics 2021 growing, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President John Coates has confirmed that the 2021 summer games will go ahead even if the city was under a state of emergency due to COVID-19. This has been confirmed by the Japanese Prime Minister himself who has stated that the Tokyo Olympics will not be postponed any further and will be held as per plan. With the Olympics less than nearly 2 months away, Japan has begun imposing tougher restrictions putting its prefectures under lockdown till the end of June. Tokyo will be hosting the Olympics beginning from July 23 until August 8, 2021.