VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Athletic Association (APAA) along with other sports association representatives on Sunday felicitated Olympian and (IOA) President PT Usha in Vijayawada.

The Olympic Association icon and her husband V. Srinivasan were felicitated by the APAA in the evening. Speaking on the occasion she said that she is establishing an Athletics Academy to produce more international athletics. As of now, around 25 athletes are taking coaching in her academy, out of them 12 are national medalists and eight are international medalists. Speaking to the media, Usha claimed that the number of outstanding IOA concerns had decreased from 251 to 80 since she assumed the position of president about four months prior.

“We are trying to address all the issues and bring down the number of pending cases. We have constituted a committee exclusively to deal with the affiliation and other issues. We will sort them out soon. We need only one affiliate association per State and not two or three,” Usha said. Usha said she was happy to see so many enthusiasts participating in the marathon. “I was a little bit unhappy as I didn’t see a synthetic track in Vijayawada. This is my request to the government authorities.

There are a lot of international athletes from Andhra Pradesh. Vijayawada needs a synthetic track. I hope the government will take interest in that. Even the municipalities can take the initiative,” Usha observed. Usha shared that she started her athletics journey at the age of 13 and at that age she used to compete with Under-16s. The Olympian urged parents to recognize the talent in children and encourage them. Usha said she would work to the best of her ability as the President of the Indian Olympic Association. 

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