Guwahati, Feb 5 (PTI) As many as 1637 boys and girls in four age groups will vie for honours in 145 events at the 36th National Junior Athletics Championships beginning here on Saturday.

Coming from 32 States and Union Territories, they will make the event the country's single largest sporting event since the outbreak of COVID-19.

With 159 athletes, Haryana will be the largest contingent this time, edging out Tamil Nadu (150).

Karnataka (142), Rajasthan (110) and Uttar Pradesh (107) are the other states that will field more than 100 athletes in the competition to be held at the Sarjusarai Stadium.

Given their battle with Covid-19, Maharashtra and Kerala have expectedly dropped below the 100-mark this time.

With World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi, slated for August, and the fourth Asian Youth (U18) Athletics Championships in Kuwait in October this year, the limelight may well be on the two groups of athletes competing in the under-20 and under-18 categories. PTI

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)