Bhubaneswar: After the grand opening ceremony at Kaliinga stadium here on Wednesday evening, it is now time for the business end of the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships-2017. The highlight of the first day of the competitions will be the participation of two of the five Odisha athletes taking part in the championship: Dutee Chand and Amiya Mallick.
Ace sprinters Dutee Chand and Amiya Malik will compete on the track this evening for the qualifying round.
Malik will be in action at 6.14 PM in the heats of the 100 meter sprint while Chand will compete in the 100 meter heats at 6.45 PM.
The two prides of Odisha will enter the semifinals if they qualify in the heats.
They are also scheduled to take part in the 200 and 4X100 events.
The other three Odia athletes who will represent India in the championship are Srabani Nanda, Jauna Murmu and Purnima Hembram. The five Odia athletes are part of the 95-strong Indian contigent.
While Srabani will run in the 100, 200 and 4X100 metres event, Hembram will take part in the Heptathlon and Murmu will run in the 400 meter Hurdles events.
The mega sports event began with decathlon at 8.30 AM.
Ms Kalinga AI