Three hundred and forty-six sports persons from Punjab schools have converged on Sundarnagar in Himachal Pradesh for a rigorous high-altitude training camp.The purpose of holding this summer camp is to boost the endurance and strength of the school kids. While honing the skills in their respective sports disciplines, the kids will build up stamina by covering vast areas through hill and dale.Apart from helping in building strength and stamina, the camp will also provide a chance to these trainees to get relief from the scorching heat and the soaring temperature in the plains.The hilly terrain of Himachal Pradesh has been the ideal training camp for national athletes. The Shilaroo high-altitude hockey stadium, 50 km from Shimla, came into the limelight when the national hockey probables underwent special training at this Sports Auithority of India centre some years back.This is the school sports department’s way of making the kids robust and strong in keeping with the Tandarust Punjab dream of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh.
The organizer of this camp Mr. Ravi Singh said the trainees will take part in sports competitions being conducted at the block level of various sports in all the primary, middle and senior secondary schools of the state. The winners of these competitions will represent the state in the national level school games.He said 346 players of basketball, football, hockey, handball, kabaddi, kho-kho, Volleyball and Judo are taking part in this camp.Punjab finished overall seventh with a haul of 35 medals in the first Khelo India School Games held in New Delhi this year. This remarkable achievement is the result of the ongoing process to revive the sports culture in the state and the Tandarust Punjab Mission will take this torch forward.Director General, School Education, Punjab Mr. Parshant Kumar Goyal said that steps have been taken to improve the ranking of the state in the sports arena and the aim of the department is to achieve the first position in the 64th National School Games.