Kumasi, April 24, GNA - This year's National Athletics Championship kicked off at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi on Friday with the Ashanti Region putting up a splendid performance to claim honours in the Under-17 and Under-19 categories of the competition. The three-day event is being organized under the auspices of the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) to select the best athletes to represent the nation at various international competitions slated for the year. The competitions include the qualifiers for the maiden Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, IAAF Junior Championship in Canada and the Africa Junior Championship slated for Kenya

The Ashanti Region team clocked a time of 25.15 seconds to win the Under-17 200-metre final race in the Girls' category and took the second position in a time of 25:62 seconds with the Central Regional team placing third with a time of 26:06 seconds.

The 1,000 metre final race for girls again saw the Ashanti Region placing first with a time of 2:57.00 seconds, Central and Upper-West Regions took the second and third positions with 3:01.72 seconds and 3:08.69 seconds, respectively.

In the Long Jump event in the same category, Ashanti Region came first with a leap of 5.58 metres, whiles the Volta and Western Regions took the second and third positions with 4.84 metres and 4.80 metres, respectively. In the Under-19 Girls' 200 metres, Ashanti Region came first with 22.45 seconds; Eastern and Greater Accra Regions placed second and third with 22.66 seconds and 26.17 seconds, respectively.

Ashanti Region also claimed the first and second positions in the Under-19 Boys 200 metres category with a time of 21.78 and 21.79 seconds, respectively, whilst Eastern Region made a time of 21.90 seconds to take the third position.

Central Region put up extra effort to place first in the Under-19 Girls' category in the 1,500 metres event with a time of 5:00.48 seconds followed by the Northern and Upper West Regions at the second and third positions with 5:13.81 seconds and 5:26.08 seconds, respectively. 24 April 10