Maharashtra hog limelight on first day of National West Zone Jr. Athletics

Maharashtra hog limelight on first day of National West Zone Jr. Athletics

Bhopal, August 12 (Pervez Bari): Maharashtra athletes steamrolled their opposition as they garnered total 58 medals out of 96 which included 29 golds, 20 silvers and 9 bronzes to hog the limelight on the opening day of the three-day 22nd National Athletics Championship which commenced here at the Taya Tope Stadium o Wednesday.
Hosts Madhya Pradesh were placed second in the medal tally with two golds, five silvers and 11 bronze medals. While Goa were third with 1 gold, 3 silvers and six bronze medals to their credit. In all the owners of 32 golds, silver and bronze medals were decided on the first day.
Earlier, the championship was declared open by local BJP MLA Dhruv Narain Singh, who is also the chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation.
NS Parmar, president Madhya Pradesh Athletics Association, (MPAA), welcomed he guests while secretary Mumtaz Khan presented the report.
Meanwhile, the official website of MPAA was also inaugurated by Dhruv Narain on the occasion. The MPAA has become the first sports body in Madhya Pradesh to launch its website.
It may be mentioned here that about 600 athletes from the states of Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and hosts Madhya Pradesh are participating in the championship. They will vie for 169 golds, silvers and bronze medals that are at stake. The Athletics Federation of India has given the responsibility to MPAA to organize the championship at Bhopal. The competitions are being held in the age groups of 20, 18, 16 and 14 years separately for boys and girls. (pervezbari@eth.net)