Indian athletes have stepped on the soil of Jharkhand for the 53rd National Open Athletics Championships, which begins on Saturday at Mega Sports Complex, Hotwar.
‘Queen of Indian track and field’ PT Usha’s student Tintu luka who bagged a medal in recent World Athletics Championships at Moscow, Asian Championships Bronze medallist Bibin Mathew, National women’s 10,000 Metres (M) race record winner Preeja Sreedharan along with 30 more internationally acclaimed athletes would perform at this four-day sports tournament.
“Overall, 1,500 athletes from 24 State teams and six government institutions are to showcase their talents here,” said Jharkhand Athletics Association (JAA) president Madhukant Pathak. JAA is the host of this national meet.
On Friday, practice sessions were held at Hotwar. A meeting among the team managers was also organised.
The group of international athletes would be felicitated with mementos on Sunday by JAA, a first of its kind in India where State athletics association would be honouring so many global renowned players.
Final rounds of Women and Men 5000 M, Women Pole Vault finals, Women Shot Put finals followed with Men and Women 400 M hurdles are scheduled on Friday. Heats round of 400 M hurdles, 800M and 100M for both men and women are also to be organised.
Though the events would commence from early morning 6am but the 45 minutes opening ceremony with a March Past and number of cultural programmes depicting the traditional art cum culture of Jharkhand region will be done in the afternoon around 3pm. JAA Vice President Sanjay Kumar Pandey informed that Development Commissioner AK Sarkar would be the Chief Guest during this occasion.