Bhubaneswar, March 23 Top Indian athletes, including sprinter Animesh Kujur and triple jumper Praveen Chithravel, are optimistic about competing in the inaugural National Indoor Championships, which begin here on Tuesday, saying the event will help them in their preparations for the Asian Games later this year.
Kujur, who holds the national record in both the 100m and 200m outdoor events, is making his indoor debut as part of a 33-member Odisha team. He will compete in the 60m race in the two-day championships.
Triple jump national record holder Chitravel will represent Tamil Nadu but will compete in the long jump.
High jumper Sarvesh Kushare, who qualified for the finals of the 2025 World Championships (outdoor), is also among the approximately 300 athletes taking part in the two-day national event, which is being held at the state-of-the-art indoor facility at the Kalinga Stadium complex here.
"This will be my first indoor competition, and the 60m race is about how explosive you are," said Kujur, who is starting his season with this race.
"My main goal this year is the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, and I want to know from this indoor race what my level is and what improvements I need to make," said the 22-year-old, who also competed in the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo in the 100m.
Kujur will begin his outdoor season with the Indian Athletics Series 3 in New Delhi on April 11.
The National Indoor Championships will be a novel experience for many Indian athletes, as well as for the organizers and officials of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
In indoor events, which are held on a 200m track instead of the 400m used in outdoor events, the facility is smaller and enclosed. Athletes run on narrower tracks with banked turns. The outdoor 400m tracks are wider and have flat turns.
Field events such as high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, and shot put are included. However, throwing events such as javelin, discus, and hammer are excluded.
Indoor events are not affected by wind, and the weather conditions are consistent throughout the duration of the competition.
Around 300 athletes will compete in the national championships, with Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra sending large contingents of around 30 athletes each.
Chitravel, however, has competed in indoor events before, and he is the most experienced athlete in this regard. He won a silver medal in the triple jump at the 2023 Asian Indoor Championships in Kazakhstan.
"Indoor events are held in enclosed spaces, which creates a good atmosphere, and the performance is consistent. In outdoor events, there is a wind factor that is not present indoors," said Chithravel, who also participated in the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Kushare, who currently trains at the Army Sports Institute in Pune, is also looking forward to the experience of competing indoors.
Bahadur Singh Sagoo, the president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), hopes that the maiden event will help to raise the profile of the country in indoor competitions.
"We did well in the Asian Indoor Championships in February in China, and we are now holding our first national championships. We are hoping that we will continue to improve our performance in indoor events."
He also spoke about the National Relay Championships to be held in Chandigarh on March 28.
"We are hoping to qualify for the World Relays (May 2-3 in Botswana) from the National Open Relay in Chandigarh. To do that, we need to have at least two foreign teams in Chandigarh. So, we are looking to invite 3-4 foreign teams."
