Minister for Youth Services and Sports and Medical Education, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, on Wednesday said that State government intends to equip every panchayat with sports infrastructure to nurture sporting talent among rural youth. Mr Taj was speaking on the Final day of the 12th J&K Open State Fencing Championship in Government Degree College at Billawar.Minister of State of Fisheries, Cooperatives, Finance and Planning Dr Manohar Lal Sharma was also present on the occasion.Mr. Taj said that the motive behind organizing such championship of modern sports like fencing is to attract the youth hailing from rural pockets and far flung areas to new games, where youth otherwise remain confined to the contemporary and traditional sports only. On the occasion, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma appreciated the efforts of the Sports Minister for organizing the fencing championship in the Billawar tehsil. He also raised the demand for a sports stadium for Billawar Tehsil for which the Sports Minister Taj Mohi-ud-din assured that a team will assess the requirements.
As many as 207 players from 9 districts of the State took part in the 3- day Championship in which a total of 68 medals comprising 17 gold, 17 silver and 34 bronze medals were given. The matches during the event were held in Sabre, Foil, Epee, Open and Open Epee categories of under-12, under -14, under-17 inpidual age groups.Three matches were played on the final day of the championship, in Open Saber Boys inpidual category in which Vishal Thapar of Jammu District bagged gold, Javed Ahmed of Jammu clinched silver, while Sushant Sharma of Jammu & Kushal Sharma of Kathua clinched bronze.In open Saber girl’s inpidual category, Priya Khajuria of Jammu clinched Gold, Mansi Bral of Jammu won silver while bronze medal was bagged by Seema Bhagat and Simram Sharma both from Reasi district.In under-17 Epee boys inpidual category Rajan Prasar of Udhampur won gold, Teja Singh of Jammu clinched silver while Ravi Sharma of Kathua district and Shubham Shari of Jammu won bronze medal.Later the Ministers also gave away cheques among 98 beneficiaries of Billawar town under Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme. ACR Kathua S.P Rakwal, SDM Billawar, SDPO Basohli, President J&K Amateur Fencing Association, Secretary J&K Amateur Fencing Association, Principal Government Degree College Billawar were also present on the occasion.