Kerala continues its reign at the top in athletics

Kochi: Kerala, an athletics powerhouse, has reasserted its strength in the field, winning the recent national Junior Athletics Championship at Warangal for the 13th consecutive time, despite fielding a depleted side. The youngsters from Kerala, known as the "nursery of Indian athletics," did the state proud, winning a whopping 71 medals, including 24 gold, 30 silver and 17 bronze medals. Kerala also won the championship in the boys Under-14, girls under-20 and Under-16 categories. Arjuna Awardee and Olympian Mercy Kuttan said the athletes could not perform to their potential due to woeful ground conditions on account of heavy rain."It was impossible to put up a good performance in these conditions. It is very sad that youngsters who had trained very hard could not show their real talent," she told reporters. Tony Daniel,former Kerala Athletic Association secretary, expressed happiness at the performance of the youngsters, but pointed out that Kerala could not send its full team, as some medal prospects had not participated in the state championship, from where they are selected for a national event. "Kerala athletes have shown that we have depth`, he said, adding that the performance in middle distance events like 400 and 800 metres was not along expected lines.The junior team Manager Solomon Antony was also overjoyed, but felt the team was short by at least 10 golds as some medal hopes did not participate in Warangal. He too agreed with Mercy Kuttan that the track conditions left much to be desired due to rains, especially on the second day of the event. PTI