POONCH: Only three athletes, including a girl, could fall in the qualifying mark to be named in the selected list of zonal level activity during the district trials conducted by the National Yuva Cooperative Society (NYCS) for GAIL India Speedstar at Sports Stadium, here on Saturday.
While in under-14 boys 200 meters category Royal Deep Singh (27 seconds) qualified, Barkat Hussain (12.26 seconds) was other athlete to be named in the selected list in under-17 boys 100 meters event. The lone girl athlete from the district, Usma Kousar had best timings in 100 meters event of under-14 category. She took 14.98 seconds to complete the distance.
“In all, 1,040 young athletes, including 251 girls, turned up for the trials held under the guidance of technical individuals. The participating athletes were from districts of Poonch and Rajouri,” District Representative of NYCS and event incharge, Dhanuj Sharma told.
In the prize distribution function of the activity, Vice-Chairman Kissan Board J and K, Daljit Singh Chib was Chief Guest, who presented certificates to the selected athletes and encouraged other participants. He also appreciated the initiatives of NYCS for searching the talent for Olympics 2020 at grass root levels.
Prominent among others present were SSP Poonch, J.S Johar, State Bureau Chief of Punjab Kesari, Dr. Balram Saini, Munish Sharma (All Morcha Incharge of BJP J and K) and Pradeep Sharma.
Meanwhile, the State Representative of the NYCS, Opinder Sharma informed that a good number of athletes from neighboring district of Rajouri also took part in the trials under the supervision of District Representative, Madhur Gupta.
Earlier, in the morning, Member Legislative Assembly (MLA), Poonch, Shah Mohd. Tantray declared open the selection process. He was accompanied by Commander 93 Brigade, A.S Pendarkar and District Development Commissioner (DDC) Poonch, Mohd. Haroon Malik.