Doping test centre inaugurated for Senior National Athletics Meet

Mangaluru: All arrangements had been made for the smooth conduct of the 19th Senior National Athletics championship for the Federation Cup slated to begin here on April 30, Karnataka Forests Minister and district-in-charge B Ramanath Rai said today.

The infrastructure at the Mangala stadium had been developed for the five-day event, he said speaking after inaugurating the doping test centre at the stadium.

He said the government had sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the championship, of which Rs 50 lakh had been released. The remaining amount would be released soon, he said.
"The Department of Environment and Ecology had promised Rs 10 lakh for the event and the Mangaluru City Corporation would release Rs 5 lakh," he said.

State Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Abhayachandra Jain said the new synthetic track and other facilities at the stadium had already been set up.

The event is important as athletes for the 21st Asian Athletic Championships to be held at Wuhan, China in June would selected from among the winners here, he said.
Dakshina Kannada Athletics Association president Manjunath Bhandary said around 30 athletes from north India had already reached here.