Minister for Youth Services and Sports Moulvi Imran Raza Ansari today said the government is making consistent efforts to enhance the existing sports infrastructure for development of sports and increasing youth participation in sports activities.The Minister said this during a felicitation ceremony organised to celebrate the success of local athlete Bhanu Pratap Singh who brought laurels to the state by winning silver medal in Wushu (Martial Arts) at World Cup organised in November 2016 at Xian, China.Addressing the gathering, the Minister reiterated the unflinching support of the government to the budding sportspersons of J&K. He said that recent accomplishments mark the coming of age for Jammu and Kashmir in the sports arena.
Stressing on proper guidance and hard work, the Minister urged the youth to follow these sportspersons and put in dedicated efforts and strive for excellence.Ansari further said that feat by local athlete Bhanu Pratap will help encourage youth of J&K to take sports as a career.“As a society, you just need an icon to trigger a change,” the Minister said adding; “I am more than delighted that our state has now more than one sports icon to motivate others to pursue their dreams in sports seriously.”Pertinent to mention here that, Bhanu’s feat was the 4th medal in Wushu won by the players from J&K State. While three were won by Bhanu, one silver was won by Rajinder Singh in 9th Asian Cup in September 2016 in Taiwan.