ISLAMABAD: The 46th edition of three-day National Athletics Championship will start here at Pakistan Sports Complex on Friday.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) president Maj General Akram Sahi disclosed that 14 teams will take part in the event.

The teams are from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Islamabad, Fata, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan Railways, Wapda, Pakistan Army, Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

“Overall, 22 men’s events and 20 women’s event will take place with a total of 500 athletes in action,” he said. Army will defend their men’s title while Wapda are the defending women’s champions.

Originally scheduled to be held in Lahore, the event was shifted to Islamabad after the Punjab Sports Board did not allow the championship to be held there.

“They asked us to change the schedule, as the ground will be not available during April 3-5 so we shifted the event here,” Sahi said. “This is an annual event in which champion athletes display their prowess in the sports arena.”

He also informed about the prize money on offer. “The gold medallist [of any event] will get an amount of Rs5,000 with the runner-up bagging Rs3,000 and the bronze medallist taking home Rs2,000.”

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2015

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