KOZHIKODE: With the moves for hosting the national school athletic meet by the state are underway, the hopes of Olympian Rahman Stadium have taken wings to become the venue with the smooth conduct of the ongoing state school athletic meet.
Athletes and coaches have expressed their satisfaction with the track and field here. According to officials, if the national championship would be allowed to Kerala, Kozhikode is the better option as the synthetic tracks in LNCPE and University Stadium at Thiruvananthapuram were comparatively old. As the works for Kochi Metro are progressing, Ernakulam could not host the event smoothly, they added. Olympian P T Usha also echoed that the synthetic track in the ground have a capacity to host national and international athletic events. “The synthetic track is good and the athletes can perform their best on this. When compared to other tracks in the state the athletes can set more records here,” she opined.
The synthetic track was set up as part of the National Games hosted by Kerala in January last year. The construction of the three-storey new pavilion with 400 metre synthetic track, media work station, dope testing rooms, internal and external and peripheral drains, and a substation building was completed at a cost of `10 crore. The turf was set up with Mexican grass, having an international standard.
Jisna Mathew, international athlete and who clinched two gold medals in this years state meet, said that the synthetic track here has good bounce.
Kerala is trying to host the national event in the wake of the decision of Maharashtra, which is scheduled to host, to back off from hosting the meet.