The Secretary of the Asian Athletics Association, Maurice R. Nicholas has appealed to the Tamil Nadu State Government to reconsider its decision to withdraw from conducting the Asian championship which was scheduled in the city from July 3 to 7.
The Singapore-based official said that time was too short, just four months for any new host to plan and prepare for the major event considering that this was a competition involving athletes from 45 countries in the Asian continent.
The Hindu has learnt that he has written a letter to the Chief Secretary bringing in it details of all the meetings and discussions from 2010 with regard to the acceptance of the Government to conduct the meet and the progress on the preparation front.
In December he had himself visited Chennai and along with a delegation of various athletics officials personally met the Chief Secretary and other senior officials in the Government in connection with the meet.
Mr. Nicholas, it appears, has also informed the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world body, on the developments while expressing hope of finding a way out of the unexpected happening.
It may be recalled that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa cancelled the meet because of Sri Lanka’s participation in it following fresh evidence of war crimes.
