Mangaluru, Feb 24: With the coastal city of Mangaluru gearing up to host the National Federation Cup athletics meet from May 1 to May 4, Mangala Stadium is likely to get a facelift and upgradation of facilities to prepare it for the national-level meet.
After a long gap of 27 years, Mangaluru has received the honour of hosting a national-level athletics event and is looking at upgradation of sports facilities at Mangala Stadium within two months. The stadium may receive tower floodlights along with other infrastructure, if things go as planned.
The Federation Cup will serve as selection trials for international athletic meets such as Asian Athletic Championship to be held in Wuhan, China in June and World Athletic Championship to be held in Beijing in August. Over 700 athletes from all states are expected to arrive shortly to take part in the national sports meet. Hence, elaborate arrangements and top-class facilities are expected to be provided to participants.
In this regard, the national athletics federation and the state athletics association are expected to coordinate the arrangement of all facilities to the participating athletes and coaches with the help of various departments of the state.
Athletics Federation of India President Adille Sumariwalla said that a request had been before the state government to make arrangements to improve existing facilities and addition of other infrastructure such as tower flood lights.
In a press conference, he said that elaborate arrangements could be made by the state government in two months to gear up the stadium for the national athletics meet in May. Since Mangaluru has a big stadium and good connectivity, arrangements can be made for athletes’ accommodation and training within May, he said, informing that technical teams would visit the city to ensure that the athletes are provided with best facilities.
Mayor of Mangaluru City Corporation Mahabala Marla said that a full-fledged and well-equipped stadium could be readied in two months’ time if sufficient funds are granted by the state government.
Minister for sports and youth services K Abhayachandra Jain said all necessary measures would be taken to provide additional infrastructure for Mangala stadium such as tower floodlights for early morning or late-night events.
Meanwhile, athlete coaches from the coastal region are glad of the coastal city being selected as the host as local sports would get a boost with Mangala Stadium getting better infrastructure.
Infrastructure
A good stadium, which was recognised by Indian Athletics Federation, should have facilities for pole vault, javelin throw, hammer throw, discuss throw, and shot put and steeple chase events in the area within the tracks.
Mangala Stadium has already gotten a synthetic track in 2013, however coaches say that merely its construction was not sufficient but it was also necessary to maintain it well before conducting national and state-level sports meets. There is also necessity for infrastructure such as pavilions with overhead shade facility for the gallery, railings along the synthetic track and provision for a high-jump bed and also for pole-vault among other facilities.
As a start, work for construction of tower floodlights and laying of green grass between the tracks inside the stadium is already underway.
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