Athletes of the state who are hitherto sitting idle owing to the lockdown can look forward to getting back to competition fold in the coming months.

The East Singhbhum District Athletics Association (ESDAA) has lined up two competitions – district cross country and junior championship. Depending on the Covid-19 situation in the steel city, the twin events will be conducted in November and December.

While the cross country is scheduled in November, the district athletics meet is slated to be staged in December.

The events are aimed at helping athletes slip into competition groove keeping in mind the state/national cross country and national inter-district athletics championship which are scheduled in January and February next year.

According to ESDAA president Mathura Nath Purty, most athletes from district are off training due to the lockdown. “Some were connected with our online training programmes. But it is not enough to help athletes perform up to expectations in competitive events. It is essential they again get a feel of the competition. Our athletes can get this feel in the upcoming district meets and help in their respective preparations,” he explained.

The district body has planned to stage the junior meet at Sumant Moolgaokar Stadium in Telco. It has also planned a training camp in October. “It is essential to bring our athletes back to training mode. But we would go ahead with the programmes only when the Covid-related situation in the district improves. It would not be a wise idea to put athletes at risk,” an association functionary said.

Athletes from East Singhbhum have won a lot of titles while representing Jharkhand in national competitions.

Meanwhile, ESDDA has re-constituted its executive committee in view of the upcoming district events. Jiren Xavier Topno (chairman), M.N. Purty (president), Keshwar Sahu, Gurbari Hembrom, Vijay Singh, Arun Prakash Dutta, Suchinder Kumar Singh (vice-presidents), Ravindra Nath Mahto (secretary), Birdhan Marandi (joint secretary), Abhay Kumar, Sarwan Kumar, Sunita Purty, Suprabha Panda (assistant secretaries), Rajkumar Banra (treasurer) and Sidhu Kisku (assistant treasurer) are the office bearers of the panel.

Former international Saroj Lakra has been made the co-chairman of the selection panel while RP Verma is the convenor. Shyam Kumar Sharma, Shanti Choudhary and Shankar Hembrom have been selected as members of this panel.

The coaching panel will be headed by Jagatpal Singh while Arvind Kumar will be the co-chairman. Sanjiv Kumar is the convenor whereas as Sidhu Kisku and Chetan Majhi will be the members.

The technical committee comprises Ranjit Kumar Singh (chairman), Jahanara Begum (co-chairman), Abhay Kumar (convenor), Iqbal Singh and Nimai Mahto (members).