Bhubaneswar: In association with Odisha’s Sports and Youth Services Department, Odisha Athletics Association will be conducting 70th Odisha State Senior Athletics Championship from September 18 to 20 in Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium.
Over 900 athletes from across the 30 districts of the state, including 268 women will participate in the 3-day event. Several students training in the Odisha-Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Centre and sports hostels under the Sports Department will also partake in the championship.
Participants from Odisha Police, Postal Services, BSNL and KIIT University will also compete in the sporting event.
Both Sundargarh and Cuttack district’s contingents stand as largest with 71 athletes. Both the districts have also clocked the highest participation of women athletes, 28 for each, competing in various track and field events.
According to Odisha Athletics Association’s Prabodh Mohanty, the state meet will serve as a stage for the athletes to go on and participate in several national and international competitions of repute.
“From this competition, we will select those who meet the qualification for the open nationals. This will give them further exposure in the national scene,” said Mohanty.
The qualifying athletes will then participate in the 4th Indian Open U-23 Athletics Competition 2024 which will be held in Patna from 28-30 September 2024.
Principal Secretary, Sports and Youth Services, Bhaskar Jyoti Sarma expressed his delight at hosting the event in Kalinga Stadium.
“This aligns with the government’s vision of nurturing sports and sports persons enabling them to become stars of the track and field in the future,” said Sarma.