The Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) would from March 15-18, hold its National Junior Athletics Championship in Tamale as part of efforts to unearth young talents for the Association.

The championship dubbed, 'Maria Tsakos National Junior Championship', would be under the sponsorship of the Maria Tsakos Foundation, which has supported the event for the past five years, leading to the discovery of the likes of Janet Amponsah, Beatrice Gyaman and Emmanuel Appiah Kubi, participants at the last All Africa Games in Maputo Mozambique.

The Championship would also enable the GAA to select the best junior athletes to form a formidable Junior National Team to represent the country at the West African Junior championship slated for Abidjan from April 1 -3 and the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) Games to be hosted by Ghana from June 2-8.

According to information gathered by GNA Sports from the secretariat of the GAA, the two championships will also serve as qualifiers for the IAAF World Junior Championship in Barcelona, Spain from 10 -15 July 2012.

It is the first time that the GAA is organizing such a National Championship in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital and will use it to whip up public interest and to encourage young, budding and talented athletes to take up the sport.

The Association has, however, made provisions for some selected members of the senior athletics team to participate in the track and field events, having been in camp for the past months to encourage and inspire the youngsters and for them to improve on their performance.**