Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, today witnessed the final match of 17th Christmas Gold Cup Football championship at Synthetic Turf, Parade Ground here. Addressing the gathering, Advisor Bhatnagar said that good standard of football was displayed by both teams in this match and both teams fought like warriors till dying minutes of game.
He highlighted that the locals witnessed all matches of the tournament enthusiastically which proves that the youngsters Jammu and Kashmir are moving towards the sports and considering it as a profession. Advisor Bhatnagar, who was the chief guest on the occasion, further said that Jammu and Kashmir is emerging as a powerhouse of sports across the country and players of UT are emerging at National Icons.
He highlighted that Jammu and Kashmir is surfacing as the new location for hosting sports events of national and international level owing to upgradation and establishment of sports infrastructure in the last couple of years here. The Advisor said that every district and Panchayat halqa of Jammu and Kashmir is having its stadium now and sports events are being organized from village level so that the region can produce sports icons from grassroots level.
He added that state of art Khelo India centres have been established here with an aim to produce sportspersons of national and international calibre. While distributing trophies among winner and runner up teams, Advisor Bhatnagar said that sports makes our life disciplined and every player in the field is winner.
He underlined that after watching today’s game, he is quite optimistic that the quality of sports played in J&K has upgraded and players are depicting great skill and talent. The Advisor on the occasion, congratulated the winning team as well as runner up team. He also applauded the efforts of organizers for hosting such a successful championship saying that these will continue to be organized in the future in other sports also to provide opportunities for young talents to showcase their sports skills.
Pertinently, in the final played between J&K Bank and Downtown Hereos FC, both teams displayed quality football and eventually in the dying minutes of the game, J&K Bank team led by goal machine of Jammu and Kashmir, Aakif Reshi, emerged victorious by a solitary goal.