Venue for 32 events lacks world-class facilities

LUCKNOW: Athletes in 32 events will have to compete on the grassy and muddy ground of the OEF Stadium in Kanpur at the 55th UP State Under-20 Athletics Championship scheduled to be held from Sunday (May 15) to Tuesday (May 17).

This is because the hosts Uttar Pradesh Athletics Association could not procure a stadium equipped with international facilities even when it is mandatory for such events by the Athletics Federation of India.

On the other hand, athletes in 10 other events, including five for women, would have access to modern facilities. Players chosen on the basis of the threeday state championship at two different locations would be selected to participate in the 20th National Federation Cup Juniors Championship (June 2-4), a qualifying event for the World Athletics Championships slated for August 1-6 in Cali (Colombia).

Ten events, including 100 and 400 metre hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, high jump and pole vault in both men’s and women’s categories, would take place at the Sports Complex of the Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad. The venue has a synthetic track and other facilities of international standards. But athletes in 32 other events would be trying their luck for a place in the UP team at the OEF Stadium, where cutting of grass and levelling the ground started only on Friday morning.

“It’s tough, but we don’t have any option as the UPAA has been denied to conduct events at all three facilities in Lucknow, including the one at the Sports Authority of India and another one at the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College,” UPAA secretary PK Srivastava said on Friday. He refused to accept that the sporting body was responsible for the situation.

SAI’s executive director Sanjay Saraswat said that UPAA was offered limited facilities to conduct the event on the campus, but they wanted stay and food facilities for athletes, which was not possible with so many national camps of other sports, including athletes of National Centre of Excellence, also going on here.

Sports College’s acting principal SS Mishra, too, refused to accept that he denied permission to UPAA to hold the event on the campus. “Over 500 athletes were roaming within the college campus and lying everywhere at night during the last championship here. If something had happened to any of them, we would have been held responsible,” Mishra said.