National junior athletics championship | Quality fare expected as junior stars take the stage

Several up-and-coming athletes, including under-20 National record holder pole vaulter Dev Meena and South Asian junior championships silver medallist 100m hurdler Sabita Toppo, promise quality action in the 39th National junior athletics championship starting here on Saturday.

With the Kalinga Stadium buzzing due to the presence of around 2000 athletes from four age groups, the event, which was postponed from October due to a cyclone threat, will provide the youngsters a platform to assess themselves. It will also test a few others aspiring to compete in the inter-university meets and National Games.

For the first time, the championship will have restrictions in a few events for the under-14, 16 and 18 athletes as the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is making efforts to discourage early specialisation and facilitate young athletes’ growth.

The emergence of the javelin throwers, after the success of two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, has been fascinating. The presence of Asian under-20 gold and silver medallists Deepanshu Sharma (Personal Best: 71.21m) and Rohan Yadav (PB 70.03m) in the men’s category and National Open bronze medallist Deepika (PB 55.23m) among women may produce gripping action.

The 17-year-old Amanat Kamboj, who bagged an Asian under-20 silver in discus with a personal best of 50.45m, will be watched with bated breath. Meena, who set the under-20 mark of 5.20m but narrowly missed the National record of 5.31m in the under-23 meet at Patna, will be eager to attain a new high.

Sabita, who clocked a personal best of 13.96 earlier this year, sounded keen to lower the time further on her home track.