GUNTUR: Arrangements are in place for the smooth conduct of Agri Gold Haailand 71st all India inter-university athletics meet at Acharya Nagarjuna University from Friday. The meet is the first major national meet to be held in the country after the Commonwealth Games and is being keenly anticipated by athletics and coaches alike.

The meet would be inaugurated at 10 a.m. by Vice-Chancellor Y.R. Haragopal Reddy. Ponnur MLA D. Narendra Kumar and Chairman, Agri Gold, V. Rao Avvas, Andhra Cricket Association G. Ganga Raju would be the guests of honour. The meet would end on January 3. Vice-Chancellor Y.R. Haragopal Reddy and organising secretary Y. Kishore said at a media conference on Thursday that as many as 1,447 boys and 766 girls drawn from all major universities in the country are taking part and over 100 technical supervisors would be assisting in the conduct of the meet.

International technical official C.K Valson, who would be officiating at the meet, was all praise for the state-of-the art facilities, which included a 9-lane 400 metres track, an electronic digital display board, radium tachometer and a photo-finish camera recording the events. The university took the help of edifice Infra Project involved in the six-laning of NH-5 to complete works on the track.

The last time that ANU hosted an inter-university meet was in 2004 which saw as many as 11 new meet records. Among the star athletes taking part in the meet, Asian Games bronze medallist in 800 metres Tintu Luka, is all set to set the track on fire. The university made arrangements for providing lodging and boarding for all athletes, managers, trainers and technical supervisors.

While the athletes have been put up at student hostels, technical officials have been put up at Pastoral Training Centre and Anand Jyothi. Three different food courts offering distinct North Indian and South Indian dishes were being set up.