Hanumangarh’s own ‘Olympics’ to promote sports among youth
district in Rajasthan will organise a mega sporting event, named ‘Olympics’, to encourage sports, discover talents and keep youth away from intoxicants.
“The event is planned on a big scale and the objective is to develop sports culture among youths and keep them on right track,” district collector Prakash Rajpurohit said.
“It is seen here that youth use drugs; such activity (sporting event) will not only bring discipline and dedication but also lead them in right direction.”
Former district collector PC Kishan had opened 40 libraries and reading rooms – named after Albert Einstein, John Milton and so on – to wean youths away from use of drugs.
Rajpurohit said 15 games will be organised as done at Olympics – football, volleyball, kabbadi, hockey, basket ball, handball, wrestling and kho-kho, among others. Athletic events -- shotput, javelin throw, archery, judo, gymnastics, badminton, long jump and so on -- will also be held.
Sports events will be held in October and November this year at three levels – panchayat, block and district. The teams qualifying at the panchayat level will move to the block and then the district level. At all the levels, top three winners will be awarded, the collector said.
“The chief minister has always emphasised increasing the happiness index, and the initiative is a step ahead on the same lines,” he said. No age limit has been fixed for participation in the tournaments. The events will be held at a time when farmers will be free from harvest and children from exams, the collector said.
“The sports events will be organised jointly by the district administration, sports associations and sponsors. The administration has also constituted committees at all levels – at the panchayat level, sarpanch and pradhan will handle all work,” he said. “Attractive prizes will be given to the winners.”
The initiative will bring to the fore sporting talents, and the district sports council will hone their skills, said Rajpurohit.