‘90% of India’s tracks substandard’: Adille Sumariwalla’s shocking claim on infrastructure

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4 min readApr 18, 2026 08:41 PM IST

Adille Sumariwalla Tracks Sumariwalla added that the governing body was unhappy with the infrastructure quality that has been certified in India, adding that the federation would look to ensure that all requirements are met. (File)

Athletics Federation of India (AFI) spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla has made a startling claim that 90 percent of the synthetic tracks used in the country currently are substandard in terms of material, laying and marking.

Sumariwalla added that the governing body was unhappy with the infrastructure quality that has been certified in India, adding that the federation would look to ensure that all requirements are met.

“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.”

During the Annual General meeting of AFI in Kohima on April 14 and 15, the federation decided to get involved in the 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,” he explained.

He also claimed that rubber cut from tyres was put on the track and painted red to make it resemble a synthetic track. “We have seen instead of polyurethane, only rubber or tyre rubber being used in multiple tracks,” Sumariwalla, who is also vice president at World Athletics, said.

When asked if AFI was involved in the laying of the tracks, Sumariwalla said, “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.”

While the tracks that have been certified by World Athletics won’t have to get recertified, the new tracks that will be laid will be monitored by AFI. “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 and 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,” he said.

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Five teams for World Relays

21 Indian athletes will feature in the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana, next month across five events. “The Indian athletes will compete in five relay events out of six. We qualified for all the six events, but our teams will participate in five of them,” Sumariwalla added. “A 21-member Indian relay contingent will compete on South African soil.”

In the two-day event, the top 24 teams will compete in six events: women’s 4x100m relay, women’s 4x400m relay, men’s 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, 4x100m mixed relay and 4x400m mixed relay.

Indian Team: Men: Rajesh Ramesh, Manu TS, Amoj Jacob, Dharamveer Choudhary, Theerthesh Shetty, Nihal Joel William, Vishal TK (4x400m men’s relay and 4x400m mixed relay).
Pranav Gaurav, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Ragul Kumar Ganesh Kumar, Harsh Satosh Raut, Tamilarasu S (4x100m men’s relay and 4x100m mixed relay).

Women: Rashdeep Kaur, Kumari Saloni Nagar, Ansa Babu (all 4x400m mixed relay). Tamanna, Sudeshna Hanmant Shivankar, Nithya Gandhe, Sneha SS, Srabani Nanda (4x100m women’s relay and 4x100m mixed relay)