New Delhi, Jan 1: The domestic Indian athletics calendar for 2024 starts with the National Cross Country Championships in Gaya, Bihar on January 15 and will run till December, when the district meets are slated to conclude.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will host 23 major competitions over the year.

With the athletics qualifying window for the Paris 2024 Olympics, scheduled in July-August, already in effect, the events in the first half of the year will also be crucial for the Indian athletes looking to secure a quota for the Paris Olympics.

While Indian athletes will be involved in various international athletics meets this year, competing at home under familiar conditions will give them a better chance of breaching the Olympic qualifying standards or improving their rankings in their respective events.

The Paris 2024 qualification and ranking period for all individual events - other than the marathon - will run till June 30. The qualification period for the marathon is till April 30, 2024.

Indian track and field athletes can hope for a busy month in March with the India Open 400m, jumps and throws competitions on the agenda, in addition to the inaugural National Open Relay Carnival in Chandigarh.

May, meanwhile, will see Bengaluru host the first Indian Grand Prix of the year. The Indian Grand Prix 2 will see the athletics bandwagon arrive in Chennai on May 30 while the third and fourth India Grand Prix 2024 meets will be held in Bengaluru and Patiala, respectively, in June and July.

This year's National Interstate Senior Athletics Championships will be organised in Panchkula, Haryana, in June end while the National Open Athletics Championships will be held in Bengaluru from August 30 to September 2. The two competitions, both in their 63rd editions this year, will be held before and after the Paris Olympics, respectively.

For the third year running, the AFI will also celebrate August 7 as National Javelin Day to commemorate Neeraj Chopra's historic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Javelin competitions will be held across the country on the day.

World champion Chopra, however, will be in Paris at the time for the Summer Games.

Among the other big meets of the year, the 27th Federation Cup will be held in mid-May. The zonal competitions will be conducted in October.

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