Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Sanjeev Verma, declared open 65th National School Games Under-19 Boys Kho-Kho Championship at Khel Gaon, Nagrota, here today.Director General Youth Services and Sports, Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman, Principal Sainik School Nagrota, Lieutenant Colonel Pawan Kumar, galaxy of dignitaries besides locals were present on the occasion.Verma, while addressing on the occasion, said that it is appreciable that the Centre as well as the Government of Jammu and Kashmir are taking numerous initiatives towards promotion of sports in every nook and corner of the Union Territory with emphasis on rural area sports talent.Lauding efforts of DG Sports for being active and enthusiastic in promoting sports culture in J&K, the Divisional Commissioner said that such sporting extravaganzas apart from providing opportunity to budding sportspersons to showcase their talent, also helps them to exchange culture with their counterparts from other States.Verma said that there is a lot of scope to develop stadiums like at Bhagwati Nagar Stadium and Stadium at Rajouri into multi-purpose stadiums. He asked DG Sports to involve youth and senior citizens in sports activities apart from involving budding players for inculcating sports culture in to our society. He also advised him to sponsor more and more rural youth for national level programmes.Verma said that sports and games are the best media to help youth not to fall prey to social evils like drugs, drinking and not to get derailed.Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr.Saleem-ur-Rehman congratulated the participating contingents and highlighted the achievements of the department. He said apart from the regular activities, this year the department organised historic Ski Courses for girl students at the world famous and picturesque Gulmarg.Dr Saleem praised the role of Divisional Commissioner in establishing Khel Gaon by taking a big initiative of handing over a land of 175 kanal to the Department of Youth Services and Sports. He said Khel Gaon is turning to be an asset in sports and emerging as a sporting hub in the Union Territory.The Championship, in which the teams drawn from 26 States and Union Territories from across the country are taking part, is being organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports J&K, under the aegis of School Games Federation of India (SGFI).Meanwhile, in the matches played on the opening day, Uttar Pradesh defeated DAV by 1 inning and 5 points; Rajasthan thrashed CBSE by 1 inning and 38 points; Gujarat got the better of Punjab in an exciting contest by 1 point and Bihar prevailed over J&K in another close contest by 2 points. Hitesh Kumar was the star performer for Bihar, who took 3 points in just 2 minutes of play.