Asian Athletics Meet To Feature Shows On Kalinga War, Konark

Bhubaneswar: Eye catching classical dance, martial arts featuring folk tales on Kalinga war and history of world famous Konark temple will be on show during the opening ceremony of the much awaited Asian Athletic Championships which kicks off here on July 5.

As many as 400 Odia dancers under the choreography of Padm Shri Aruna Mohanty will perform classical dance shows and local martial arts for about 15 minutes and narrate the famous history of the Black Pagoda and tales on the fierce Kalinga battle that took place nearly two thousand years ago here in ancient Odisha.

“Odia martial arts like Paika, Chhau will be performed during the mega event. Janardan Raj, a noted choreographer from Bengaluru and myself are training performers for dance shows to be displayed during the mega event. Besides we also have special stage show on Konark temple,” Aruna Mohanty told media persons.

With barely a week remaining before the much awaited international level athletic championship kicks off here, preparations for the mega event are in final stages.

On the one hand while Akharas are filled with performers preparing for shows, participant teams from across the continent are touching down in the city for the much awaited event.

A team from Sri Lanka with 15 male and 8 female athletes are bracing up for events like High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump, 100 m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 3000m steeple chase, 400×4 relay on the newly constructed tracks of Kalinga stadium as they look to land some silverware.

“The track is fine and we hope to win 4 to 5 medals,” Sri Lanka team manager Lal chandra Kamar said.

Meanwhile, to promote the event, school kids are also staging programmes in various shopping malls, theatres and road shows.