Junior athletes sweat it out on Fed Cup eve

The reason for their “extra effort” is quite clear. It is actually a testing time for them as on the basis of performance in this championship,the India campers for the World Junior Championship in athletics will be selected. Chairman junior selection committee JS Saini will be there in the city to observe the performances of these young boys and girls. The humid weather of Lucknow could play a crucial role on the show of the athletes in this championship.

In the last edition of the championship held at Pune,Kerala had been overall champions winning both junior men’s and the junior women’s section trophies. Uttar Pradesh and Haryana had claimed runners-up shields in the junior men’s and junior women’s section,respectively.

This year too,hosts UP have bright chances in the junior men’s section. In the junior men’s section,UP has strong medal hopes from Vipul Rana (800m),Gopal Patel (5000m) who is an under-18 nationals silver medallist,Rajan Yadav and Chanderjit Pal (10,000m),Yoginder and AK Yadav in steeple chase,Shailendra Pratap (long jump),Abhimanyu,Umesh Yadav (pole vault),Veer Bahadur Singh and Sudhanshu Mishra (shot put),Dharmraj (discus throw),internationals Harminder,Chandrodaya N Singh and Ejaz (hammer throw),captain Rohit Kumar,Krishna Kumar Patel and Vipin Panwar (javelin throw) and Mahinder (10 km walk race).

However,the picture for UP in the junior women’s section is not very impressive with Rekha Patel in 1500m and 5000m and Meenakshi in hammer throw and a couple of others from which medals could be expected.

UP captain Rohit Kumar who won a gold in the javelin throw event in the Youth Asian Games held recently,is quite upbeat about his team’s prospects and feels that this year too the boys will do the state proud.

The championships are being organised by the UP Athletics Association (UPAA) under the auspices of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Honorary secretary UP Athletics Association (UPAA) PK Srivastava informed that 26 state teams had reached the state capital by Thursday evening.

A total of 22 events in junior men’s section and 21 events in junior women’s section will be organised during the three-day championship. The championship will be inaugurated at 9.00 am on Friday.