Bhubaneswar, July 5: The state capital wears an eager look ahead of the Asian Athletics Championship, which was thrown open here today by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Tickets for Asia's premier athletics meet have already been sold out with fans planning their schedules around the big event.

However, the weather forecast continues to cast a shadow over the event with the local Met office predicting light to moderate rain in the city, at least till July 8.

"There might not be heavy rainfall, but we can't rule out the chances of one or two spells of rain during the games. The monsoon trough remains active over the city and it might bring showers in the coming days," said Met director Sarat Chandra Sahu.

Sahu said his department had already intimated the authorities concerned about the forecast.

"We have informed the administration about the possibility of showers during the games. They should remain alert for any emergency," said Sahu.

The administration has taken note of the alert issued by the Met department and put officials on their toes in order to ensure a trouble-free event. "The areas around Kalinga Stadium were cleaned and are being maintained on a 24x7 basis," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

Jena told this newspaper that they had procured nine water suction pumps and stationed them at vulnerable locations in the city that are prone to waterlogging in case of heavy rain. "These areas include Jayadev Vihar, Nayapalli and Cuttack-Puri Highway, where we have stationed the pumps along with operators," Jena said.

Besides, drain cleaning around the city is also going on in full swing. The civic body has put special emphasis on areas in the vicinity of the stadium.

"We are ready to tackle any possible situation that may arise in case of heavy rain. We have worked very hard to make the games a grand success and we won't take risks," said Jena.

The government has also put officials of the Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu) on alert to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to the stadium during the games.

Accordingly, they have put up two additional transformers of 250KV on standby as backup for the galleries and eight diesel generators for the floodlights.

"We will collaborate with officials of different departments to provide 24x7 electricity supply to Kalinga Stadium during the event. We have set up a control room inside the stadiumto deal with power failures," said Cesu's senior general manager S.K. Swain.

"We are trying to maintain uninterrupted electricity supply to the entire city during the event," Swain said.

International Association of Athletic Federations president Lord Sebastian Coe yesterday expressed satisfaction over the infrastructure of Kalinga Stadium.

He said despite only getting a glimpse of the main stadium, he interacted with the athletes in the warm-up area. "The athletes are pleased with the arrangements. Arrangements at the warm-up track at the stadium are of high standard," he said.

City residents also lauded the administration's efforts to ensure smooth conduct of the championship event.

"It is a proud moment for Bhubaneswar as well as the state and the country. India is hosting a major event and there should be no failure in ensuring the success of the event. I am impressed with the administration's efforts," said Ditya Nanda, a resident of Patia.