India, June 28 -- India's track and field athletes are preparing for the season this year at various private and government run training centres as per Athletics Federation of India (AFI) ambitious plan to give them the freedom to train at centres of their choice. AFI has also done away with long-duration training camps except for relay teams.

The idea is to create an open and competitive training environment and broaden the talent pool. Senior AFI officials feel the plan to decentralise training is showing results as is evident from performance at the Asian Championships in Gumi, South Korea, where Indian athletes scooped up 24 medals finishing second in medal tally behind China.

However, AFI is also facing some teething troubles in mo...