Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Rally to popularise national athletic meet

— Photo: G. Moorthy

Creating awareness: School students taking out a rally in Madurai on Wednesday.

MADURAI: School students dressed uniformly in T-shirts and wearing caps started off from the Madurai Railway Junction and marched towards the Race Course Stadium, the venue of the 48th National Inter-State Senior Athletic Championships 2008 to be held in the Temple City from June 15 to 18, with a mission on hand, to create awareness among the public about the programme.

The event has assumed importance as it would also be the trials to select the Indian athletic team to participate in the Beijing Olympics.

For a long time now, an event of this magnitude did not take place in Madurai.

Twice the city came close to hosting such an event, which slipped at the last moment due to lack of infrastructure facilities required to organise the meet. Now, the city boasts of a synthetic track of international quality.

Hence, a series of awareness campaigns through media was being conducted to make the event public. said P.V. Parthasarathy, a senior member of the Madurai District Athletic Association that organises the championships under the aegis of the Tamil Nadu Athletic Association.

Entry to view the sports meet is free. Sporting events will be conducted both in the mornings and evenings. Spectators are free to visit the Race Course Stadium, the venue for the event, between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Commissioner of Income Tax, Indra Kumar, flagged off the rally in which more than 700 students from M.A.V.M.M. Higher Secondary School, Madura College HSS, Government Girls HSS, Mahaboobpalayam, American College HSS, Setupati HSS, O.C.P.M. Girls HSS, Union Christian HSS and members of the DYFI Sports Club, National Athletic Club took part in the event.

The rally traversed through Madurai Railway Junction, North Veli Street, Simmakkal, Kalpalam bridge, Goripalayam, Tallakulam, Periyar Statue and culminated at Race Course Stadium.

Divisional Railway Manager, Hemant Kumar, and Deputy Commissioner Police (Traffic), S. Prabhakaran, were also present.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Court intervenes in land acquisition
Wireless system to monitor rural development works
Rally to popularise national athletic meet
Ilayankudi girl dies of rabies
38 toppers to get laptops
Seven held for murder of cable TV operator
Inspector General of Police felicitated
College classes from June 16
Bench refuses to quash no trust motion notice
Electors’ entries to be verified: CEO
In Madurai Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu