Bhubaneswar, March 14: With the Jharkhand government expressing its inability to host the Asian Athletics Championships, the spotlight is on Odisha now as the most probable destination to host the mega sports event.

A team of Athletics Federation of India officials made an inspection visit of the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar recently to inquire about the condition of the venue.

After inspecting the facilities and infrastructure of the stadium, President of Athletics Federation of India Adille J Sumariwalla said Kalinga Stadium was one of the best venues in country. He said: "We are really happy with the venue. The infrastructure is all there and all it needs is a little cleaning."

Athletes of 45 countries will take part in the event to be held from July 1 to 4. India has hosted the event earlier on two occasions - in New Delhi (1989) and Pune (2013). The winners of the Asian meet will get a direct berth for the World Championship in London to be held from August 4 to 13.

The state government has expressed its willingness to host the event in the state and a decision on the issue will be taken shortly.

"We are prepared but we need to ponder on a lot of things as this is a big event," said sports and youth services department secretary Vishal Dev. Dev said: "The things that we require to host the festival will be imported from Australia, Dubai and America and is it necessary that they should arrive on time which is a cause of concern for us."

The relaying of the synthetic track of the stadium is currently under way and the government is hopeful that the track will be ready well before the event.

If the state will host the championships, various rooms of the stadium and the gallery will be renovated and floodlights will be installed. The state would be hosting a number of international sporting events lately including the Men's Hockey World Cup in 2018.