Shillong, Jul 23: The Meghalaya Athletics Association will hold the State Athletics Championship 2026 for men and women in September.
The 14th to 16th September event will be supported by the Directorate of Sports & Youth Affairs. It is mandatory for all affiliated and non-affiliated districts to participate, said a circular signed by MAA General Secretary Finely L Pariat.
Every year the Directorate, with support of the MAA, holds a championship for school children but this event is for seniors and is obviously geared towards Meghalaya’s preparations for next year’s 39th National Games, which will be held in the state.
The championship will be held at the Sports Authority of India centre on the NEHU Shillong campus here.
Entries must be submitted online through the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) website by the affiliated district and not by individual athletes. Registration will open on 17th August and close on 31st August. All participating athletes must have an AFI UID to be able to participate.
There is a minimum participation age, with athletes having to have been born on or before 30th March 2009.
There are 17 track and field events scheduled to be held, subject to sufficient entries. Each district can submit two entries per event with no reserves allowed except for the relay races, where two reserves will be accepted. Each district is limited to 32 athletes (16 men and 16 women).
The events will be 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10000m, long jump, high jump, triple jump, javelin (800g), discus (2kg), shot put (7.26kg), hammer throw (7.26kg), half marathon, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay and 4x400m mixed relay.
(Representative photo)