Teams offered free transport facility to religious places

LUDHIANA : Punjab school education minister Vijay Inder Singla announced on Thursday that if any of the teams from 25 states participating in the five-day 65th National Level School Games that he inaugurated on Thursday wanted to visit heritage and religious places in the state, the government would provide free transportation.

Singla, who also holds the charge of PWD, added that teams interested in these visits needed to inform state organiser of the games, Rupinder Ravi, for requisite arrangements to be made. The state is holding the events in four disciplines of net-ball, wushu, kick boxing and sepak takraw.

After inaugurating the event, the minister made it a point to interact with students from other states and enquired about the facilities being offered. He also took a round of the stadium with cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and director public instructions (elementary) Inderjit Singh.

325 KICK-BOXING PLAYERS SHIFTED TO SANGRUR

In what caused considerable discomfort for teams, state education department shifted the venue for kick-boxing (under 14 and 19) to Sangrur, around 80km away. The state education department arranged seven buses in which 325 players along with their coaches were shifted. Officials claim that Sangrur has better facilities for the event and the venue could not be confirmed earlier, as the School Games Federation had declined the request.

A coach from Madhya Pradesh, said, “We first travelled to Ludhiana and got registered there. Such travel in the chill is difficult for students and can impact performance.”