The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : National inter-zonal meet from today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 11, 2006
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Sport - Athletics

National inter-zonal meet from today

Principal Correspondent

ALLAHABAD: The annual ritual of National inter-zonal junior athletics championship, which begins on Wednesday, has attracted a full field despite the meet being organised at short notice in the city of Kumbh.

Nearly 1,000 athletes have already arrived for the three-day meet, which otherwise has very little value considering that this is an Asian Games year.

Next month's inter-State championship in Chennai will be the key as the Athletic Federation of India has notified it as an Asiad qualifier.

However, the North Zone team is here on a mission. North Zone boys have won the team championship for two successive years, in 2004 and 05, and will definitely be looking to complete a rare hat-trick.

Besides the throwers from Delhi and Punjab, North Zone will heavily depend on the middle and long distance runners and walk specialists from Uttaranchal.

Junior National champion Gopal Singh will carry North's hopes in the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m races.

In the girls' section, South Zone should be the favourites though East is catching up on many fronts.

For most of the athletes, the Junior Federation Cup in Madurai from October 24 to 26 is the destination.

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