Jammu: Terming sports as an essential element in maintaining a balance between mind, body and soul, Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Sham Lal Choudhary Saturday exhorted upon youth to adopt extracurricular activities for their personality development .
The Minister was speaking at a felicitation function held at Choudhary Chuni Lal Memorial Govt Higher Secondary School, Chakroi to felicitate the students who have won medals at national level sports competitions .
The Minister, while appreciating the medal winners, exhorted upon other students to take inspiration from their talents and take part in sports of their interest to create a niche for themselves . He asked the teachers to identify the specific sports talent in the potential students and harness the same to bring laurels to their school and the state as well.
“Sports is beneficial for physical health and participation in it can positively affect our mental health,” the Minister said while emphasizing the significance of sports promotion at all levels for overall personality development. He said sports and academics need equal focus as both are vital for shaping the future of students towards a right direction.
He said participation in sports can save our young generation from falling prey to the menace of drugs and stressed upon the role of teachers and the parents as well who can motivate their wards towards sports and other related constructive activities.
The Minister assured the government would leave no stone unturned in further raising the sports infrastructure in every part of the state. He said during the past few years a number of major initiatives have been launched to equip the state sports stadia with latest facilities to match the national and international standards in the world of sports.
In Kabaddi tournament organised by Students Games and Sports Federation of India in Uttar Pardesh, a team of Rakesh Kumar, Sumit Kumar, Harish Kumar and Vinay Sapolia won the Bronze medal. Besides, Rakesh Kumar, Gourav Kumar, Ajay Kumar and Sumit Toga participated in the Kabbadi championship organised by Indian Rural Olympic Association at Mathura, UP. These players also participated in National level Inter district Championship in Kabbadi.
In Volleyball, Sahil Kumar, Pawan Kumar, Harish Kumar and Akshay Kumar clinched the silver medals at the inter district championship held at Uttrakhand.
Pawan Kumar, Sahil Jalotra and Neeraj Toga won the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in 600 m, 400 m and 1500 m race events respectively. Son of soil Rajat Kumar won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in different events in Boxing Championshiop held at Leh.
In the day, the Minster also kick-started macadamization work of 2.6 km long Devigarh-Bullechak road to be constructed at the cost of Rs. 61.3 lakh.
The Minister also convened a public grievance redressal camp in which the villagers from Satriyan, Kotli Galabana, Pindi and other areas apprised the Minister about their issues related to power supply, water supply, road connectivity and sanitation. The Minister assured them that their issues would be redressed in a time based manner.
