Paralympics

Until this edition, London 2017 had been India's best ever show where the para athletes finished with five medals in the joint 34th place

Athletics - Know all the competitive athletics events latest news and headlines, scores tally, results and athlectic sports updates from around the world with business-standard.com

Athletics | World Athletics Events & News

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	<strong>Athletics</strong></h4>
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	Derived from ancient Greek, athletics is a group of competitive sporting events that involve running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common competitions in this category are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking.</div>
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	The simplicity of the competitions to measure the winner, and the lack of a need for equipment, makes this one of the most common types of sports in the world.</div>
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	In 1912, International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) was formed to govern the sport.</div>
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	This sport has six disciplines: track and field, road running, race walking, cross country running, mountain running, and trail running. Mountain running was added in 2003 and trail running was added in 2015.</div>
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	In athletics, a participant is pitted against rivals of a similar kind or ability, physical disability, age, and gender.</div>
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	<strong>TRACK AND FIELD</strong></h4>
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	Under track and field, a participant may compete in one or more events, according to their specialties.</div>
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	A variety of running events are held on the track, which fall into three broad distance categories: sprints, middle-distance, and long-distance track events.</div>
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	The field events are of two types &ndash; jumping and throwing competitions.</div>
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	In throwing events, athletes are measured by how far they hurl an implement, with the common events being the shot put, discus, javelin, and hammer throw.</div>
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	For jumping, there are four common events: the long jump and triple jump are contests measuring the horizontal distance an athlete can jump, while the high jump and pole vault are decided on the height achieved.</div>
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	The Olympics, World Championships in Athletics, Paralympic Athletics and World Para Athletics Championships, are the most prestigious levels of competition in track and field.</div>
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	<strong>ROAD RUNNING</strong></h4>
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	Predominantly long-distance, these competitions are running events, which are mainly conducted on courses of paved roads.</div>
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	Road racing events can be of virtually any distance, but the most common are the marathon, half marathon, 10 km, and 5 km. The World Marathon Majors series includes the six most prestigious marathon competitions &ndash; Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York, and Tokyo.</div>
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	<strong>CROSS COUNTRY RUNNING</strong></h4>
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	First recorded in 1838, cross country running is a more naturalistic form of athletics as participants run on open-air courses over surfaces such as grass, woodland trails, and earth.</div>
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	Competitions are typically long-distance races of 3 km or more which are usually held in autumn and winter. Most successful athletes under this category often compete in long-distance track and road events as well.</div>
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	Inaugurated in 1973, the annual IAAF World Cross Country Championships remains the highest level of competition for the sport.</div>
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	<strong>RACEWALKING</strong></h4>
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	A form of competitive walking that usually takes place on the open-air road, racewalking is the only sport in athletics in which, athletes are monitored on their technique.</div>
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	The basic rule of racewalking is that a foot must always stay in contact with the ground and their advancing leg must not be bent at the knee. Failure to follow these rules results in disqualification.</div>
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	Other than IAAF World Championships in Athletics, this sport has its own major event,&nbsp; the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, being held since 1961.</div>


Man with the golden arm: Gold medalist Neeraj Chopra during his javelin throw event (Photo: Reuters)

World-class javelin thrower Neeraj is not taking part in the September 27 to October 6 showpiece as he has been doing light training since May, having underwent an elbow surgery

Page 15 - Athletics

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