In India the athletics sport was first developed during the British Raj. The sport is overseen at the national and international levels by the Athletics Federation of India, founded in 1946. Despite the large number of people living in India however, at the highest level of the sport, only a handful of Indian athletes have ever won the gold medal at a world (or major) championship. The situation began to change during the 21st century as Indians began to show more interest in sports more broadly and better infrastructure for this sport started to be constructed at the local level. On a global scale it is among the most successful Asian nations, although it is a way from China in comparison to China and Japan.
On the national level there are three major competitions in athletics The most important of which are the annual Indian National Open Athletics Championships and the Indian Inter State Senior Athletics Championships (both first held in the year 1961) and four-yearly National Games of India (first held in 1924). The Indian National Championships event predated the Open and Inter State ones, being scheduled from 1924 until. The Indian Marathon Championships was first staged in 1938, while Indian Cross Country Championships was first held in 1938. Indian Cross Country Championships celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015. The Indian Racewalking Championships was established in 2014. Alongside the main senior championships, there are also championships for youth and athletes aged under 18 at the national and sub-national levels and also non-championship senior competitions as part of the Athletics Federation Cup and Indian Athletics Grand Prix tour.
In January 2021, the sports ministry has named Belarussian trainer Nikolai Snesarev as the middle and long-distance coach for the Indian athletics team.
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