Date:11/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/11/stories/2007071161312000.htm

Sport - Athletics

Amman to play host now

NEW DELHI: The 17th Asian athletics championships will be held in Amman instead of Irbid, from July 25 to 29.

The Asian Athletics Association (AAA) secretary, Maurice Nicholas, who visited Amman last Saturday, along with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) secretary, Lalit Bhanot, ruled out Irbid as the venue because of the distance involved.

Irbid is around 80km north of Amman and adequate hotel facilities in that city were not available to cater to the needs of the Asian athletics community, Bhanot said. Daily road travel, apart from being a time-consuming exercise, would also have taxed the athletes, the AAA felt. Accordingly, the Jordan Athletic Federation agreed to bring the meet back to Amman, as originally planned. — Special Correspondent