AFI Media
30 July 2020
A total of 466 athletes, including 166 girls, will vie for honours in the three-day 19th National Federation Cup Junior U20 Athletics Championships at the Hero Stadium in Sangrur from July 31. While the Olympic Games competitions are on in Tokyo, the youngsters will try and deliver performances here to catch the selectors’ eye.
Some of the familiar names in the entry list are Uttar Pradesh’s Shaili Singh (women’s Long Jump), Uttrakhand’s Ankita who claimed a distance running double in the last edition of the competition in Bhopal, javelin throwers Jay Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) and Kunwar Singh Rana and women’s 400m Priya Habbathanahally Mohan.
Haryana (85 athletes), Uttar Pradesh (61) and Tamil Nadu (54) are the three States with more than 50 entries in the competition. Maharashtra (48), Delhi (39), Punjab (29) and Rajasthan (28) are the other sizable contingents in the Championships where events will be conducted for athletes between 19 and 20 years of age.
Ajit Kumar, who is Nepal’s sole representative, will join 465 Indian athletes from 24 States and Union Territories in the competition which comes against the backdrop of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi. It the second National Federation Cup Junior U20 Championships being held this calendar year after Bhopal hosted the first in the end of January.
The pole vault events will be held in the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala.
