BANGALORE: Torn and tattered tracks beckon the athletes of the future at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. The two-day fourth Youth National athletics championship, sponsored by Unitech, is set to begin on Friday, but the appalling conditions of the synthetic tracks, which is a decade old, yearns for attention.

"We are striving to bring this pathetic condition of the tracks to the attention of the people who matter through the media," said Satyanarayana, Secretary, Karnataka Athletic Association on the eve of the championship.

"Our efforts in convincing the authorities have not yielded results and Bangalore has failed in its bid to play host to the Asian Track & Field in 2009 for this reason.

"Something needs to be done and our association members are ready to chip in our might, whatever little, to supplement the cost," he said.

Eyesore

It's indeed an eye-sore and with bubbles appearing at every curve the athletes will surely be wary of injuries, with a crowded season ahead.

Most of the under-18 athletes are here, though not in peak fitness since this is pretty early in the season and barely a month after their examinations. But with the Athletic Federation of India (AFI) keeping a cut-off date of December 3, 1990 (instead of the mandatory championship date as the cut off) what with the Commonwealth Youth Games at Pune' 2008 in mind, some of the fringe athletes have missed out this championship.

Competition wise this event should bring out the best among the athletes what with the Ostrava (Czech Republic) bound team for the World Youth athletics championship to be named here.

In the absence of Tintu Lukas of Kerala, the host's M.R. Poovamma, an international, is amongst the top favourites to make a mark in the 400 metres.

Poovamma, brimming with confidence will also be running in the 200 metres, which is slated for the second day.

"She has been running the first 200m in her laps in a time of 25.1 seconds and should do well in the event," feels Dinesh Kunder, Poovamma's coach at Mangalore.

Steffi Abraham and C. Shilpa, both from P.T. Usha's School of Athletics in Koyilandy (Kerala) too should be looking to come out of the shadows.

Tamil Nadu which is a force to reckon with in the junior category too has talented athletes in K. Keerthana, Manimozhi and Anandhi, Shanawaz and Sharathchandran.

Nishith Shetty and Nikkin Thimmaiah are the ones' that the hosts are banking upon to fetch medals amongst the boys.

Both Nishith in the 400m and Thimmaiah in the 200 metres seemed to be in good nick on the eve of the championship.

Age-old problem

Age verification has been in progress and nearly a dozen athletes, including two from the host State, have been found over-age, a menace that along with doping, needs to be totally eliminated from sports.

While the technical committee are overseeing the conditions of the track and the jumping pits, the athletes will have to brave the odds, though the weather over the last few days has been very pleasant.

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