The Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) recent decision to ban marathons and road races not authorised by them may polarise top-class runners in the country. Now, the Sports Ministry which wanted to overturn the AFI’s decision and had accused the apex athletics body of trying to monopolise running has approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) seeking the its intervention in what it thinks is a dictatorial anti-competition stance by the AFI.

The running boom in India, and especially the city, took off after the success of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. It was the stature of the event and the fact that it was so inclusive not just a top-class event for top-class marathoners, but one that counted amateurs as an important part of it transformed the running scape in India.