Ranchi, Feb. 18: State capital Ranchi will host the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship 2017 from May 31to June 4 at the Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium at the mega sports complex in Hotwar, it was formally announced this evening in Doha, Qatar's capital, where Asian Athletics Association (AAA) technical committee held a meeting.
Ranchi as the final venue for the prestigious meet had been announced in October 2015 after a bidding process.
Athletics Federation of India (AFI) secretary C.K. Valson called up Jharkhand Athletics Association (JAA) president Madhukant Pathak from Doha to inform the latter about the final dates.
Calling this an honour for Ranchi and Jharkhand, Pathak said: "At a time when our state government is hard-selling Jharkhand as the preferred destination for business and other activities, an international sporting event, considered a great leveller, will put our capital on a global platform."
China hosted the last edition of the biennial athletics championship in June-July 2015 while India held it in 2013 in Pune after a very long gap, 1989 in New Delhi.
Pathak who earlier informed AFI functionaries that dates in May-June would suit Ranchi's weather, today added a high-level state team would give their presentation before the AAA this June during a junior athletics championship in Vietnam.
"A joint team of athletics federation and state government was to give a detailed presentation in Doha on how we propose to host the 2017 meet, but we couldn't go due to the ongoing Assembly session," he said.
On funds, he said the state federation had proposed a budget of around Rs 9 crore to the state government last year. But, that is likely to increase now, he said.
Commute and stay of international contingents would incur costs, he said. "International flights land late at night in Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai, etc. We may have to arrange the stay of visiting teams at airports till they get connecting flights to Ranchi. Some players come in advance to get acclimatised. We shall have to take that into consideration."
