Excelsior Sports Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 13: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today inaugurated the 6th Senior Asian Pencak Silat Championship being held in Srinagar. The event brings together over 150 athletes from different countries.
Addressing the gathering, the Lt Governor said over the next five days we will celebrate and honour the individual strength and sporting excellence. He observed that the ongoing sporting events across Jammu and Kashmir have kindled hopes and it is a sign of a robust sports culture in the society. “In the last two years, we have formulated and implemented strategic sports development plan which is paying us the dividend,” he added.
The LG said that better infrastructure together with experts and outstanding coaches have brought a major shift in training programmes. We have also implemented a new sports policy and offering attractive career options for the sportspersons, he added.
“Our sincere effort is to provide an environment of encouragement and adequate resources so that every talented sportsperson can give spectacular performance in the national and international events. We are committed to take every possible step to develop strong winner’s instinct among our sportspersons,” the LG said and underscored that Sports is all about unifying spirit of universal harmony and brotherhood.
Noting that Pencak Silat is relatively new to India and introduced only in 2014, the LG said within few years, J&K has witnessed an upswing in performance of our athletes in national and international events and they have earned 540 medals in the national events and 17 medals in the International events.
Last year, more than 1.7 million children and the youth participated in various sporting disciplines and this year, the number is expected to go beyond 3.5 million. The overwhelming participation clearly indicates resurgence of sports in the Union Territory of Jammu Kashmir, he added.
Earlier, the LG interacted with the members of International teams of Pencak Silat from Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Nepal.
Sarmad Hafeez, Administrative Secretary Youth Services and Sports, in his welcome address extended a warm welcome to the foreign sportspersons and delegates arrived in J&K for the championship.
Kishore Prakash Yewela, president Indian Pencak Silat Federation; Teddy Surat Madji, Secretary General, International Pencak Silat Federation, Indonesia; Nuzhat Gul, Secretary, J&K Sports Council; Vijay Kumar, ADGP Kashmir; P K Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Mohammad Aijaz, DC Srinagar; Rakesh Balwal, SSP Srinagar, besides scores of young sports enthusiasts were present on the occasion.
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