Natl Youth meet from today

Haryana will look to retain their hold over the team title when the ninth National Youth (U-18) Athletics Championships begin at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Friday.

Haryana had pushed favo­urites Kerala to second spot in last year’s championships at Ranchi but the southern state has the ability to bounce back, with a clutch of talented athletes in their ranks.
Karnataka have fielded a sq­uad of 56 athletes, with Meg­h­ana Shetty, who will be doubli­ng in 100M and 100M hurdles, spearheading their challenge. Meghana had won a bronze in the Senior inter-state meet in Hyderabad late last month.

It’s the third time that Bangalore is hosting the meet after 2005 and 2007 and this time around 459 athletes from 20 States are expected to compete in the three-day meet.

The rule changes made by the International Association of Athletics Federations regarding throwing implements for girls — 3kg shot put and hammer besides javelin weighing 500 grams — will be implented here, Athletics Federation of India’s technical committee chairman P K Srivastava told a press conference.

The National Anti-Doping Agency, meanwhile, has informed that it will be conducting dope tests during the event.

The team: Boys: M M Shivakumar (100M, 200M, relay), Rithesh (100M, relay), Rakesh R (400, 800, relay), Vijay N (800M), Sairaj (discus, shot put), G Gowtham (discus), Jesse Sandesh (high jump), P M Manjunath (high jump), Mohit Kumar Chavan (long jump), Suraj Mandala (long jump), Lakshmi Kanth Patel (3000M), Suraj (3000M), Rahul Astagi (10000M walk), Mohantesh T Benakatti (10000M walk), Gaviswami (hammer throw), Siddarth S Puthran (hammer throw), Jason Beuben Salins (shot put), Fakeerappa V Bangi (110M hurdles, 400M hurdles), C Shiva Kumar (100M hurdles), Sachingouda U Patil (1500M), C Naveen Gowda (1500M), Sharath Poojari (pole vault), Samarth G Hegade (pole vault), N Manjunath (octathlon), Vinod V N (octathlon), A K Raghu (400M, 400M hurdles, relay), Karthik (javelin), Binod Munda (javelin), K Ashrith Nanjappa (2000M steeplechase), Saleem (200M, relay).

Girls: Meghana Shetty (100M, 100M hurdles, relay), Nischitha S S (100M, 200M, relay), Soujanya K G (100M hurdles, 200M, relay), Priayanka V (800M), Archana K A (800M, 400M, relay), Srishti Sunil (high jump, long jump), Jeen Lasvy Oliveira (high jump), Deeksha K (javelin), A D Chathana (javelin), J S Priyanka (discus, shot put), Navya Shetty M S (discus), Anusha K (3000M, 1500M, Sowmya (3000M, 1500M), Praneetha Pradeep (long jump, triple jump), Vaishali Somaiah (400M hurdles, triple jump), G K Vijaykumari (400M, relay), Prathiksha S R (5000M walk), Akhila M N (5000M walk), Preethi (pole vault), Punyashree S Rai (hammer throw), Chaitra (hammer throw), Abhimathy (heptathlon), Ranjana Narayan Badri (shot put), Ganima A (400M hurdles).
Officials: S V Ramachandra (manager, boys), V R Beedu (coach, boys), Ananda Kumar (manager, girls), Krishnamurthy S (coach, girls).