SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 4: Heavy rains that have been lashing across the state for the last four days have forced the organizers to cancel the 17th Jharkhand State Junior Athletics Championship scheduled to be held in Deoghar from tomorrow (October 5 to 7).
Deoghar District Sports Association secretary Ashish Jha, giving this information, told media persons that the championship would be organized from November 24 to 26 at Kumaitha Stadium Deoghar.
“Since heavy rains have been lashing the region for the last five days, it is not possible to conduct any event in such a situation. After consulting the state athletics association authorities and discussing the inclement weather it was unanimously decided to cancel it for the time being (scheduled from October 5) and hold it in November,” said Ashish Jha.
Over 1,200 athletes from all 24 districts and affiliated institutions and 160 technical officials were scheduled to attend the junior athletics championship. Sources said due to continuous heavy rains preparation of track and field marking was badly hampered.
A senior official of the association said that even if the event was organized in rain, athletes would not have been able to perform their best in such conditions.