National Athletics C'ship From Friday

The 49th National Athletics Championships (Men & Women) will kick off from Friday here at the Jinnah Stadium of Pakistan Sports Complex.

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Nov, 2018 ) :The 49th National Athletics Championships (Men & Women) will kick off from Friday here at the Jinnah Stadium of Pakistan sports Complex.

Addressing a press conference here at Pakistan Sports Complex, President Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) Maj Gen (R) Muhammad Akram Sahi, HI(M), SI(M), said all affiliated units including Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Navy, Wapda, Railways, Higher education Commission (HEC), Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Islamabad, AJK, Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan will be competing for top honors in the three-day extravaganza.

"A total of 23 competitions of men while 21 for women will be held in the championship," he said and added qualified technical officials will supervise the championship while young officials will assist them. Pakistan Army is the men's defending champion while Wapda is the women's, he said.

He said we hold this event in April as Asian and World Championship are held in July and August as to prepare athletes but due to delay in National Games we had to postpone this championship every time.

Besides trophies and medals, cash awards will also be given to the athletes, he said and added the expenditure on the championship will be up to Rs 4 to 5 million.

Sahi said our focus is on youth and we are also giving playing rights to schools and they will be able to participate in the championship. This championship was to be held in Lahore but due to some reasons we had to shift it to Islamabad.

We will talent hunt for the fastest man and for highest jumps and throws. For the first time we will now declare a best unit every year and this time it is Islamabad as it had organized the junior championships before and now is holding the seniors event.

Sahi said we will also select best coach, athlete (male & female), technical official or manager from the championships.

He said it is an honour for Pakistan Salman Butt of AFP has been elected as director development in Asian Athletics Federation.

He said we will be grooming Pakistani athlete Arshad ?Nadeem who won a bronze medal in javelin Throw at the Asian Games 2018 in Indonesia.