Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 25 (EMN): About 700 runners from five countries including India arrived at the state capital, Kohima to participate in the second edition of the South Asian Cross Country Championships and the 56th National Cross Country Championships, to be held today (Saturday) at Indira Gandhi stadium, Kohima.
There will be 12 events in total inclusive of both male and female categories. In the South Asian Athletic Federation (SAAF) cross country races, men-10 km, women-10 km, under 20 (boys)- 8 km, and under 20 (girls)- 6 km will be conducted. In the national cross-country races, there will be men and women-10 km, under 20 (boys)- 8 km, under 20 (girls)- 6 km, under 18 (boys)- 6km, under 18 (girls)- 4 km and under 16 (boys and girls)- 2 km.
The international teams -- Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Nepal -- have reached Kohima, while 28 teams consisting of 671 persons (approximate) representing states, UTs, and others have also arrived.
The main event will take place at IG Stadium and runners will run around specified kilometers and distances in the periphery of the stadium.
Addressing a press conference on his arrival in Kohima, president of Athletics Federation of India (AFI), Adille Sumariwalla, informed that close to 50 runners will participate in the SACCC, while 674 participants from 34 states and boards will compete at the 56th NCCC.
He said that the federation believes that the Northeast has a tremendous amount of sporting talent. To support team Nagaland, the AFI provided coaches to train the team. The federation is trying to create an ecosystem so that athletes can benefit from it, he added.
"We believe that from this event, the youngsters will get enthused by witnessing this event. We are trying to do talent identification here and provide high-performance coaches to train the Nagaland team," he said.
He also informed that AFI created maximum training for coaches at different levels during the Covid-19 pandemic and had conducted over 20 national level competitions following Covid protocols. He added that the federation conducted online courses for pre-level 1 and level 1 for school teachers, parents, and coaches as well as training for level 2 in different languages in over 600 districts.
President of SAAF, Dr. Lalit Bhanot stated that different levels of training were initiated for coaches so that they can conduct athletic events independently in the days to come. Towards this, he said they will be training more district-level coaches from Nagaland and conducting various technical examinations.
He also assured that certified international tracks are followed for the runners. The event was originally scheduled for January 15 but had to be postponed due to the Covid pandemic, he added.
Associate vice president of AFI and advisor to the chief minister, Abu Metha, informed that the state government has invested INR 2.3 crore against the actual budget of INR 4.6 crore. He also appreciated the Bank of Baroda for sponsoring the event with an amount of INR 18 lakh.