GANDERBAL: On the eve of National Sports Day, Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, today declared the 2nd edition University/College level sports festival open at Government College of Physical Education (GCOPE) Gadoora, Ganderbal.
The Department of Youth Services and Sports bestowed the honour to the Government College of Physical Education to organize the Festival from August 29 to September 02 in this sprawling and magnificent college campus that affirms an impressive merger of 10 events covering Football (Men), Volleyball (Men & Women), Basketball (Men), Handball (Men), Tug-of-war (Men & Women), Kho-Kho (Women), Table-Tennis (Women) and others.
A participation of around 5000 students both Men and women of 160 teams across the colleges and universities of Kashmir Valley would showcase their sports talent besides over 26 cultural programme shall be showcased during the event.
Declaring the festival open, the Chief Secretary congratulated all the participants on the eve of National Sports Day and said that people of J&K are vibrant and are actively participating in sports and it is because of them that sports culture is emerging like never before when compared to population ratio and we are determined that over 75 lakh people will participate in various sports events in the current year, which was hardly 3 lakh in 2019.
Chief Secretary encouraged the students to understand their interests, abilities and challenges in sports and to integrate, sustainable development goals with Physical Education and Sports in the Curriculum.
Dr Mehta also appealed to teachers and parents to encourage people from all walks of life to participate in sports which is a must to create positivity and all should be determined to say ‘No to Drugs and Yes to Life’ adding that it is our moral responsibility to inculcate sports culture among the youth to keep them away from drugs.
Highlighting the development of sports infra, the Chief Secretary said that sports fields have been developed in every Panchayat and further sports facilities will be made available very soon.
Dr Mehta further stated that such events provide opportunities for showcasing sports talent and make sports an integral part of life.
Director YSS, Subash C. Chibber while presenting the welcome address shared the details of unprecedented initiatives and achievements recorded in the sports sector of Jammu Kashmir.
While giving details about the activities in the current year, the Director said that the department is engaging old age persons and specially abled persons in sports activities besides department is also targeting to engage Transgender persons in such activities.
To give a flip to sports infra in the UT, the department is utilizing a Rs 45 core plan so that state-of-the-art sports infrastructure is created in the UT which could be instrumental to producing international talent and making JK drug-free UT.
Earlier, the March Past, Drug Pledge and Cultural programmes were presented by the students of the colleges, and officials of the Department of YSS.
Among others present on the occasion were DDC Chairperson Ganderbal, NuzhatIshfaq; Secretary, Youth Services and Sports (YSS), SarmadHafeez; Secretary, J&K Sports Council, Nuzhat Gul; ADDC Ganderbal, Mushtaq Ahmad Simnani and officers from JK Sports Council.
Later, Dr Mehta visited Qamaria Ground where he inspected the stalls being installed by various departments on the eve of the annual Urs of Hazrat Qamaru-din Bukhari (RA) being observed in Reshipora, Saloora area of Ganderbal.
