3,284 athletes for National meet

Visakhapatnam: For the first time, as many as 3,284 athletics from 292 districts of various states in the country will take part in the 13th National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet (NID-JAM) to be held at Visakhpatnam Port Trust’s Diamond Jubilee Outdoor Stadium in Vizag from Sept. 5 to 7.

The number is the highest in the history of the NID-JAM. Athletes Gurubachan Singh Randhawa, Anju Bobby George and J.S. Saini who made India proud by clinching medals in the international events will be attending the meet to inspire and tap the talent of young athletics.

The young athletics have missed a chance to meet the most popular athletes Milkha Singh and P.T. Usha as the duo may not attend the meet.

For the first time, a southern state, Andhra Pradesh, is hosting the India’s biggest national championship for grassroot athletes and NID-JAM is an initiative of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and Shriram Properties is sponsoring the event.

AFI chief operating officer Manish Kumar said 2,074 boys and 1,210 girls,  along with 600 coaches, will take part in the three-day mega event.