PDAA gets good response for zonal cross-country championship

Pune, July 10 (UNI) The Poona District Amateur Athletic Association (PDAAA) has received enthusiastic response for its first-ever Pune zonal cross-country championship, which will be held at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City Balewadi complex, near here, on July 12.

The annual event, hosted by the PDAAA, will be held for men and women, besides boys and girls under-20, under-16 and under-14 categories.

The Maharashtra State Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA), in a bid to encourage the long-distance running, will be conducting the cross-country championship at seven zonal centres -- Kolhapur on July 16, Aurangabad (July 24), Amravati (July 30), Nagpur zone at Chandrapur (July 30), Mumbai zone at Mumbai Suburban (July 30) and Nasik zone at Jalgaon (July 31). The Maharashtra State Open Cross Country championship will be held on August 15 at Pune.

PDAAA secretary general Pralhad Sawant, in a release here today, stated that the Pune zone comprising Ahmednagar, Raigad, Solapur and Pune assumes importance, as it would serve as the barometer to select the Pune zone team to take part in the state open cross-country championship to be held at Pune on August 15.

A four-member selection panel headed by R P Dagwale of Ahmednagar has been formed to select the teams. The other members of the panel are Nathuram Patil, Prof Rajiv Payiy and Raju Kulkarni.

The men's race will be of 12 km, the women's 6 km and boys u-20 8 km. For the boys and girls u-16, the race will be of six and four kms respectively, while for the boys and girls u-14, the run will be of two kms, Mr Sawant added.

The Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) Committee chairman Sudhir Kale will formally inaugurate the championship, while Krida Prabhodhini principal Vasantrao Mullik will be in the chair.

MAAAA vice-president Advocate Abhay Chhajed who is also a corporator of the PMC, will distribute the prizes. The other prominent dignitaries to grace the occasion are former olympian Balkrishna Akotkar, Chhatrapati awardee Gurbans Kaur, Dadoji Kondev awardee Suresh Gujarati, international official Ram Bhagwat and Baptist D'Souza, Manoj Lunkud, Santosh Harale and Awdoot Mate among others, Mr Sawant informed.

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