Leading schools in the country today competed against each other at Mumbai’s KJ Somaiya Ground in four different age categories.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in
Today, Mumbai witnessed intense action as 80 of the country’s fastest sprinters from leading schools competed against each other for the coveted title of ‘Speedstar’. The initiative, now in its second year, is conceptualised by KOOH Sports, and is a nationwide athletics talents hunt. The grand finale of Speedstar Season 2 was held today, February 9, 2014 at the KJ Somaiya Sports Ground.
This year, more than 1,700 schools and 25,300 children across all sections of the society participated in the event. KOOH Sports also partnered with Special Olympics Bharat, thereby making this India’s first unified athletics event. In a span of 8 weeks, the Speedstar team travelled to 10 cities – Mumbai, Goa, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Lucknow and Hyderabad – with the overarching objective of promoting athletics at the grass root level in India.
The hunt was conducted for four age categories competing under two race formats – Under 10 (60-meter sprint) and Under 12, 14, and 16 (100-meter sprint) for both boys and girls. The event was organised under the aegis of Athletics Federation of India. The winners were felicitated by former athlete PT Usha, who also mentored the city winners before the finale.
Except for the U-10 winners, the remaining six winners will now head to Australia for a week-long training under the guidance of noted athletics coach Sharon Hannan.
(Picture courtesy KOOH Sports)
