9 selected from talent search to spot future track stars

A national level talent search initiative by GAIL (India) Limited to identify and groom future stars in track events was held here in the presence of top athletes from the country.
The GAIL-Indian Speedstar project to spot, screen, select and nurture the talents in athletics reached its final stage today after the successful conclusion of its district and state trials.
The practice camp began in New Delhi for the 92 athletes shortlisted from the state trials. The trials for wild card participants took place yesterday in which 42 kids took part out of which 11 got selected for the semi-finals.

The event was followed by the semi-finals from which 75 kids were shortlisted for the national finals held today at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
In the National trials, the top nine athletes who met the benchmark set by the National selection committee will be provided with world class coaching for over a period of four years with an ultimate objective of one of these athletes representing India at the 2020/2024 Olympics.
The initiative, that kick started early this year, successfully conducted trials in 55 districts and state level trials in New Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The selection was based on talent identification and criteria set by the committee.

A total of 92 kids were shortlisted from Rajasthan (5), New Delhi (19), Odisha (15), Kerala (8), Jharkhand (3), Gujarat (4), Manipur (1),Maharashtra (19), Karnataka (2), Uttar Pradesh (12), Madhya Pradesh(3) and Jammu (1) for the National trials.