South Asian senior athletics championships postponed yet again

The 4th South Asian Senior Athletics Championships that was scheduled to be held in Ranchi from May 3-5 has been postponed for a second time. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held from October 4-6, 2024.

Athletes from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives were set to compete in the three-day event, which will now likely be held in the second week of June after completion of the Asian Athletics Championships. The new dates are likely to be announced after further discussions later this week.

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The news of the postponement was confirmed by a letter from the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) secretary Sandeep Mehta, who wrote to the member federations of South Asian Athletics Federation stating, “Reference to the Circular dated 4 April, 2025, regarding South Asian (SAAF) Senior Athletics Championships scheduled to be held from 3rd to 5th May 2025 at Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. In this regard, it is informed that the South Asian (SAAF) Senior Athletics Championships 2025 have been postponed and the new dates will be announced soon.”

The AFI didn’t give any official reason for the postponement in the letter. However, it has been learnt that there could be two reasons with the first one being Pakistani athletes failing to get visas, and the other could be a clash with the schedule of the Asian Athletics Championships, set to begin on May 27 in Gumi, South Korea.

Last held in 2008, the ‘D’ category meet carries crucial points for the 2025 World Rankings. Meanwhile, the delay could also help the organisers prepare better for the tournament, as the Birsa Munda Stadium that hosted the Indian Open Athletics meet on April 10 saw many of the participants expressing their disappointment with the arrangements.

Moreover, after a storm hit the city in the evening, the lights of the stadium kept going off multiple times, and as a result, the men’s and women’s javelin finals that saw the likes of upcoming star Sachin Yadav take part, was a start and stop affair.