Over 400 players feature in athletics trials

LAHORE : Sports Board Punjab (SBP) organised the trials here on Saturday at Punjab Stadium for the selection of Punjab’s Under-17 Boys and Under-16 Girls teams for upcoming Inter-Provincial Athletics Youth Tournament.

Punjab’s U-17 Boys and U-16 Girls teams comprising 16 members and two officials each will participate in Inter-Provincial Athletics Youth Tournament slated to be staged in Peshawar from Sept 27 to 29. Over 400 male and female athletes from all nine divisions of the province participated in the trials. Punjab’s male athletes participated in 100m, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 800m, 110m hurdles, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, long jump, javelin throw, shot put and discus throw trials while female athletes featured in 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 100m hurdles, 4x100m relay, long jump, javelin throw, shot put and discus throw trials. Meanwhile, DG SBP Adnan Arshad Aulakh said that the selection committee conducted the athletics trials purely on merit. “We believe in merit and that’s why we have already given strict instructions to our selection committee to follow merit strictly while selecting boys and girls for the competition”. He said: “After the trials, Punjab’s 50 athletes (25 male and 25 female) will take part in a week-long training camp from Sept 19 (Sunday) where our expert coaches and trainers will polish their athletics skills so that they can offer excellent performance in the forthcoming mega event.”