KARACHI: Top athletes belonging to 16 affiliated units of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) will compete for honours when the port city plays host to the 48th National Athletics Championship at the PSB Coaching Centre tartan track from April 7 to 9.

“The facility has been refurbished to stage the mega event which has returned to the city after a break of 12 years,” the president of Sindh Athletics Association (SAA) Zahid Rizvi told Dawn on Wednesday.

Elaborating, he said, linings on the track have been completed while a cage for hammer throw and a box for pole vault are in order besides other uplift.

According to him, in the absence of equipments in the city, the AFP has assured to arrange them from Islamabad.

Zahid said he had personally imported photo-finish camera from the US at a cost of US $ 20,000 and that will be used during the spectacle.

The units that will vie for honours include Army, Navy, PAF, Wapda, Railways, Police, HEC, Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Fata, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir.

To a question, the former hammer thrower said hosting of the event is expected to cost approximately Rs7 million.

He added that with the exception of departments, arrangements of boarding and lodging of other units have been made at Coaching Centre, Karachi University hostel, Home Economics College hostel (women’s) and local hotels.

The veteran athlete requested the Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair, and the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to financially help the SAA in staging the event as well as revival of athletics in the city.

It is pertinent to mention that the city last played host to the national athletics in 1995 at the same venue.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2017