Asian Athletic Championship 2013 to be held in Pune

The Maharashtra government on 13 June 2013 confirmed that the Asian Athletic Championship will be held in Pune from 3 to 7 July 2013.The decision was finalised at the State’s Cabinet meet held in Mumbai. The State government has said that it would incur an expenditure of 18 crore rupees for this tournament. To ensure that the Asian Athletic Championship goes off smoothly, the State government has already formed a few committees to look into the various aspects of the tournament.

Maharashtra agreed to host the event after Tamil Nadu and later Delhi backed out of hosting it. Meanwhile, Maharashtra government felicitated pistol shooter Rahi Sarnobat. The 22-year-old from Kolhapur was presented a cheque of one crore rupees and offered a Grade-I job in the State government. Sarnobat had won a gold medal in the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup recently.