SRINAGAR: Even as delegates from G-20 member countries are stationed in the capital city, a number of sports events were organized across the J&K to mark the celebrations of the G-20 summit in Srinagar.
The 45th Arm Wrestling Championship commenced in Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium here today. J&K Arm Wrestling Association has collaborated with J&K Sports Council for the event in which 600 players from many states, union territories and sports boards are participating.
The championship was inaugurated by M. Henry CEO of Sheru Classic and shall conclude on the 26th of this month.
In the village Mangar in the Poonch district, a Skipping Rope competition was held at Government Middle School, in which more than 300 students participated.
The headmaster of the school, Zaqi Haider presided over the function as the chief guest. While applauding the conduct of sports events in the border village to tap the talent of local youth, the chief guest said such events help local youth in realising their potential and such events should be a regular feature of the border region.
A similar activity was organised in Girls Higher Secondary School Kharamadana in which 326 students from the school actively participated in various sports activities. The Volleyball and Korfball competitions were also held in the premises of the venue for students of the school grouped into girls’ and boys’ teams. Anju Gupta, Principal of the school was the chief guest on the occasion.
Meanwhile, in district Srinagar, a G-20 Football match was organised at KNS Stadium Radpora in downtown Srinagar between Shehr-i-Khaas XI and JK Football Academy. The high-voltage match ended in a draw as both teams scored 2 goals each.
The sports activities were also organised in Humanity Public School in Bari Brahmana of Samba district in which more than 300 students participated in the Yogasana sports competition. The entire staff of the school was part of the spectators who rooted for the students of their respective classes. The athletic and Korfball events were organised on the occasion.
The group match of the ongoing 5th Sir Mohammad Iqbal Memorial Football Championship-2023 being played in Sher-I Kashmir Stadium Bandipora was played between Elites FC Baramulla and Syed Ajar FC Bandipora. Both the teams gave tough competition to each other and in the end, the Elites FC prevailed over their opponents by a narrow margin of 1 goal. Noman Ayoub of Elites FC was declared the man of the match for his skills with the ball.
A sports event was also organised in Government High School, Pali where a one-day competition in the discipline of Wushu was held. The 250 students from the institute participated in the event organised to disseminate the information about G-20 summit, climate change issues, renewable energy, and technological breakthrough etc among the students.
In district Poonch, one day Hockey event was organised during which a number of matches for both boys and girls were played at the twin venues of Sports Stadium Poonch and Hockey Astro Turf Poonch. Around 300 players participated in the event.
Priyanka Singh a social activist, and member of J&K Wushu Association was present on the occasion as the chief guest who also applauded the role of J&K Sports Council in organising sports events in border areas and extending the reach of its programmes to the youth of far-flung areas of the union territory.
In the boy’s category Khelo India Centre defeated Power House Club and in the girl’s category Sham Lal Hockey Club defeated the Khelo India Centre team.
While events in the Poonch district were in progress, concurrently one-day Football and Athletics meet was also in progress at Rajouri Sports Stadium.
In the meantime, a number of cricket matches were played at different venues of district Srinagar, In the first match was played at TRC Cricket Academy ground between Back-Country Bashers and Srinagar Sultans, and the other match was played at the same venue, Sports Council Cricket Academy and Dalgate Fraternity XI. Batting first, Sports Council Cricket Academy folded at 123 runs losing all the wickets in the pursuit of a big target in 20 overs.
While chasing the meagre target Dalgate Fraternity XI could not negotiate the tight line bowled by SCCA bowlers and lost the match by 6 runs. In another match of the day played at Chinkral Mohalla playfield, the match between University Cricket Club and Rising Star Munawar Abad fell into the kitty of the former by a margin of 30 runs.
In the Gani Memorial Stadium in downtown Srinagar, a match was played between the Real Downtown and Zadibal XI. After winning the toss Real Downtown chose to bat and scored 148 in their full quota of 20 overs. The match was in progress when the report was filed.
The regular classwork of Sports Council Academies, Khelo India Centres and other coaching endeavours went ahead as usual.
