Chennai: The 12th edition of the Federation Cup National Junior Athletics Championships gets underway at the JN Stadium here on Friday. The Meet will be significant for the Next Gen hopefuls as it will also serve as selection trials for a berth in the Indian Athletics Team for the forthcoming Asian Junior Championships and World Junior Championships.
The Asian Junior Championship and World Junior Championship are scheduled to be held in Chinese Taipei, June 12-15, and in Eugene, USA, July 22-27.

Athletics Federation of India Secretary-General Mr CK Valson said, “The 12th edition of the championships will have more significance as it will also serve as selection trials’ for the Indian aspirants wishing to book a berth in the national team for Asian Junior Championships as well as World Junior Championships.”

Meanwhile, the prestigious Federation Cup National Junior Athletics Championships is returning to Chennai for the third time in its history.

Commencing on Friday morning, the championships will witness competition in 44 events - 22 each for boys and girls - under the age of 20 years. As many as 600 athletes from across the country are taking part in the three day meet (May 9-11), which include several junior internationals who have won medals in last year’s Asian Youth Games at Nanjing (China) and South Asian Junior Championships at Ranchi.

Tamil Nadu triple jumper Rochelle Maria Macfarlane and Assam’s distance runner Abhishek Pal, who won silver and bronze medals in Nanjing respectively, will lead the young brigade. SAF junior gold medalists – Tamil Nadu sprinter Augustine Yesudas, long jumper Anbu Raja, Kerala high jumper Sreenith Mohan, Haryana discus thrower Sachin, Delhi’s shot put sensation Shakti Solanki will be the leading probables in the junior men’s category.

The junior women’s division will have ace Kerala runners Jessy Joseph (a trainee of P.T. Usha) and P.U. Chitra, Karnataka hurdler Meghana Shetty and Maharashtra shot putter Meghna Devanga. Local girl Archana Suseendran, the double-gold medalists in Ranchi, will also be in action in sprint events. Kerala hurdler Naseemudheen, who recently posted a national youth record in the Youth Nationals at Goa, will be another star attraction in Chennai. In a nutshell the young guns will ensure high octane performances in the next three days to come.