Top athletes in National Inter-State Athletics

With the Nehru Stadium spruced up with a brand-new synthetic track in place, top athletes of the country, including Krishna Poonia and M R Poovamma, geared up to give their best in 53rd National Inter-State Championships which starts here tomorrow.
The four-day meet, which will be the final selection trial for the July 3-7 Asian Championships in Pune and also a qualifying event for the Moscow World Championship in August, is expected to see strong competition among the athletes.
Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have entered maximum number of athletes and about 1000 athletes from 31 states are slated to participate in the championship.

A host of international medallists, national champions, record holders as well as some up and coming athletes will be seen in action.
Olympians Poonia, Seema Antil, K T Irfan, Tintu Luka and Om Prakash Karhana and the likes of Gayatri Govindaraj and Rajeev Arokia will add colour to the competition.
As per preliminary entry lists available, 33 athletes, 15 of them women, are slated to defend their titles over the next four days.

The Tamil Nadu government, at the behest of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, is providing sponsorship to the meet to the tune of Rs 35 lakh, AFI Secretary and international technical expert C K Valson said.

Top woman quartermiler Poovamma expressed confidence of winning the title and reaching the standards for both Asian and World Championships.
Poonia was hopeful of doing well in the meet though she said she was yet to reach her peak form.
"I have not attended to intensive training for this meet but I am hopeful of doing well," she said.