Inter-state National Athletics Meet delayed after West Bengal backed out

The Inter-state National Athletics Meet which serves as the Athletics Federation of India’s main qualification event for the upcoming Athletics World Championships which is scheduled to be held in Doha in September. The national meet was scheduled to be held in Kolkata from July 14 onwards but has now been postponed for various reasons.

On Saturday, the AFI officially told State associations that the Inter-state Nationals has been called off as the national coaches felt that the gap between the National meet and the Worlds was too long. However, reports in Sportstar claim that the real reason behind the delay is the reluctance of host state West Bengal to conduct the competition.

“We are not hosting it, the problem is due to the election and it will be raining in July.  I have written to the AFI that we will not be able to host it,” Kamal Kumar Maitra, who is the secretary of the West Bengal Athletics Association, told Sportstar.