Week long Badminton tournament in the discipline of under 15, 17 and 19 years age category for boys and girls organized by the department of Social Welfare, Udhampur in collaboration with the Department of Youth Services and Sports Udhampur under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan initiative here at Subash stadium Udhampur.
Deputy Commissioner Udhampur Saloni Rai was the chief Guest who formally declared open the tournament while Additional SP Baljit Singh and 2 IC from ITBP Balwinder Singh were the guests of honour and District Social Welfare Officer Kanika Gupta presided over the programme.
More than 350 students from different districts of Jammu Division participated in the tournament. The chief guest also interacted with the players and congratulated the organizers as well as the participants for the successful conduct of the tournament.
While speaking on the occasion, DC said that holding of such tournament was a step forward to give a platform to the budding players of the District and to encourage the sports culture for healthy society. She called upon the participants to take part in games for their physical and mental fitness.
She lauded the initiative taken by organizers to buildup the moral and inculcating the spirit of sports in the participants. She impressed upon the need to boost the morale of the young children to promote their scientific temper and understanding. She wished them good luck for their future endeavours.
The DC highlighted the harmful effect of drugs and urged the students to stay away from drugs and focus on future plans and career opportunities in order to excel in academics and sports. To boost the enthusiasm of participants, she knocked off a friendly badminton match with DSWO Udhampur.
Later, the DC Udhampur distributed water bottles to the the participants with the message of Say no to drugs imprinted on it. DYSSO Udhampur Romesh Chander presented formal vote of thanks. Among others, Manager Sports Council, Vikas Dogra and officers/officials from police department, staff of DYSSO Udhampur and participants were present.