PRAYAGRAJ, June 25 -- Buoyed by the successful conduct of the 23rd National U20 Federation Junior Athletics and State Championship, the Uttar Pradesh Athletics Association has decided to set up its athletics hub at the Madan Mohan Malviya (MMM) Stadium here. With an expenditure of almost Rs 10 crore, the venue has been developed by Insolox Sports and Infratech Pvt ltd. The venue, where facilities for the track and field events have recently been developed, has its own rich history of producing some of the best throwers (hammer, discuss, shot put and javelin) in the domestic circuit under the then athletics coach Rustam Khan, and UPAA believes that a venue like this is most suitable for a better future of athletes of Uttar Pradesh. "We have successfully conducted the twin events, including junior national championship, and the kind of facilities here are quite good. Being one of the major centres for the sport in the state, I would like to see this venue as one of the hubs for the sport," UPAA's secretary Narendra Kumar said on Tuesday. "Setting up over a dozen national and new meet records in the three-day junior national championship are ample proof of the quality of facilities for the sport here. With the installation of international standard facilities here, this centre is expected to produce many more stars in future," said Kumar. He said that UPAA is committed to the development of sport in the state. "UPAA will be conducting many more events here in Prayagraj in coming days," he said, adding, "In fact, we are trying to correct the system within the UPAA and we have online registration and payment of entry fee mandatory." Kumar also said that Meerut and adjoining districts have already been one of the best centres for athletics in the state as almost all the top athletes, including Olympians Annu Rani, Priyanka Goswami, Parul Chaudhary, Rupal Chaudhary etc, belong to this area. "Once we have our international standard athletics facilities ready at Meerut, we will surely have many more international stars from this place. UPAA is thankful to the state government for top-class sporting facilities for athletics in Meerut," said Kumar....