Nagpur city is gearing up to host the West Zone Junior Athletics Championship at RTM Nagpur University’s synthetic track, from October 4.
Over 600 athletes, aged between 14 and 20, will showcase their talents in Nagpur. The event, organized by the Nagpur District Athletics Association under the Maharashtra Athletics Association, will see participation from men and women athletes representing Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Goa, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh. During a press conference, Satish Uchil, Secretary of the Maharashtra Athletics Association, confirmed the participation in the three-day championship.
“Top finishers in this competition will be considered for the nationals, scheduled to be held in Bhubaneshwar later this month,” Uchil informed. Rajasthan will have the largest contingent with 151 athletes, followed by Chhattisgarh with 122, Madhya Pradesh with 120, Gujarat with 117, Maharashtra with 108, and Goa with 50 participants.
“Maharashtra would have had a contingent of over 170 athletes, but many backed out due to inter-school district and divisional meets where they can earn grace marks,” explained Uchil. “In this West Zone competition, the certificates hold no value for grace marks,” he added, clarifying the reason for the lower number of participants from Maharashtra.
Himachal Pradesh’s Kuldeep Singh and Maharashtra’s Rakesh Save will serve as the technical observers for the competition.
NDAA Secretary Dr. Sharad Suryawanshi announced that Nagpur’s Ramchandra Wani has been appointed as the event manager. Gujarat’s Sajid Mansure and Nagpur’s Dr. Vibekanand Singh will serve as the technical managers for the event.
Dr. Dhananjay Welukar has been appointed as the chairman of the organizing committee. The committee also includes NDAA President Gurudeo Nagrale, Umesh Naidu, Dr. Sanjay Chaudhari, Archana Kottewar, Dr. Sharda Naidu, Ravindra Tong, Jitendra Ghordadekar, and others.