The week long sporting event School Olympics 2016 concluded, here today.Minister for Information Technology, Technical Education and Youth Services & Sports, Imran Raza Ansari was the chief guest while Minister of State for Education, Technical Education, Culture, Tourism, Horticulture, Floriculture and Parks, Priya Sethi was the guest of honour on the occasion.Deputy Commissioner Simrandeep Singh, SDM North Avni Lavassa, SDM Marh, Ved Prakash, Vice Chairperson Sports Council Jammu, Ranjit Kalra, DIG BSF Ram Avatar, DYSSO, Sukhdev Singh, DSWO, Vipan Bhagat, officials of various departments were also present on the occasion.Speaking on the occasion, Imran Raza Ansari expressed immense appreciation for the district administration for organizing School Olympics- a ‘one of its kind’, event in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in which children of tender age competed for glory.
Addressing the athletes, the Minister said, “honour of an athlete is not in winning but in competing”. He added that the huge participation of students of different schools across the district is an indication of the future of sports in the state.
Ansari reiterated the resolve of the government towards strengthening the sporting culture in the state and informed that under Khelo India Programme, funds are being provided for renovation and maintenance of sports related infrastructure at block level including synthetic hockey fields, indoor stadiums, swimming pools, water sports in selected areas. The government will soon make provisions for extending financial and lodging support to the athletes of J&K, he further said.
On the occasion, the Minister announced rewards in cash to all the winners who grabbed 186 coveted medals in 10 sporting events in just concluded School Olympics further enhancing the zeal, fervor and enthusiasm of young athletes and future participants.
Priya Sethi, while speaking on the occasion said that the organizing of School Olympics is a great step towards inculcating the spirit of competition and sportsmanship in our youth and to prepare them for greater arenas of sports at national and international levels.Highlighting Prime Minister’s vision for Olympics-2020, the Minister said, “the first step in this direction has been taken today by the district administration of Jammu through School Olympics which will prepare our athletes for events of such magnanimity by providing them avenues and boosting their spirit to perform”.Deputy Commissioner informed that the event was held with the objectives of promoting a culture of sports amongst the students and giving them an opportunity to compete and showcase their sporting prowess and talent. “The event aimed at encouraging sportsmanship, teamwork and was an attempt to bring schools from across the board – government as well as private, affiliated to Central as well as State Board- to compete on a common platform”, he added.
The event also acknowledged the support and coordination extended by the Sports council J&K, 160 Bn of CRPF, BSF Jammu frontier, NHAI, JMC, ICICI Bank, PNB, HDFC, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sanathan, Rashtriya Madhyammik Shiksha Abhiyan along with other sponsors towards organizing the event on such a large scale.The district level inter school sports meet was organized from October 13 to October 21 by the District Administration in collaboration with the Department of Youth Services & Sports. The event saw participation from 1500 girls and 2500 boys from 125 schools across the district in 10 sporting events including Football, Hockey, Basketball, Volleyball, Table Tennis, Kabaddi, Athletics among others.In addition to the medals in individual sport category the schools also competed for three overall performance trophies. While Sainik School Nagrota clinched the ‘overall championship trophy’ for boys, the athletes from Presentation Convent School Jammu took home the ‘overall performance trophy’ in girls category.A special prize was ‘Silver Fair Play Trophy’ which was awarded to Government Higher Secondary School, Rabta for maintaining highest standards of cleanliness, punctuality and discipline.