Moodbidri to host varsity athletics
Several of the country’s upcoming athletes will be in action at the five-day 72nd all-India inter-University athletics championship that kicks off on Saturday at the Swarajya Maidan, Moodbidri near Mangalore.
The prestigious meet, organised by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), Karnataka, under the aegis of Association of Indian Universities (AIU) is being hosted by the Alva’s Education Foundation.
“It is the first time a health university is conducting this all-India meet,” said Dr Sriprakash, Vice-Chancellor of RGUHS, at a press meet here on Wednesday.
“Alva’s have the infrastructure, especially the track, required for the meet, as well as other facilities to conduct an event of such magnitude. More crowd participation was also a reason to hold it in Mangalore,” added Sriprakash.
A total of 2,150 athletes (1363 men and 787 women) will compete in 44 events. Amritsar’s Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) were the champions last year when Nagarjuna University in Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) hosted the event.
Organisers said that they had written to National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and Sports Authority of India on conducting dope tests during the meet. NADA director general Rahul Bhatnagar said they were yet to receive the letter: “We haven’t received any letter until now but we will conduct dope tests if we get a request from the organisers. But they have to make necessary arrangements to conduct the tests at the venue.”
