Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 16: The third season of the Schools India Cup organized by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and School Sports Promotion Foundation (SSPF) will be commencing very soon.
India’s largest schools sports program looks to scout talent from 5,000 schools from 29 States across India in Football, Cricket, Basketball, Volleyball and Athletics. In view of the upcoming Tokyo Olympic 2020 games, J&K is working to promote sports in schools.
This was stated by Raman Singh, State Coordinator, Jammu & Kashmir of this initiative while addressing media persons, here today.
He said, District coordinators from Jammu and all districts of Kashmir came together to promote school sports and Olympics, adding that they urged each school in J&K to come out and play.
He requested Minister for Finance and Education Altaf Bukhari to promote school sports and issue notification to each school of J&K to take part in this initiative.
“We will only be able to build a talent pool for Olympics if all children start playing,” said Raman Singh.
“Schools India Cup 2016 witnessed talent from 1200 schools in 20 States and 97 districts of India in Cricket and Football. Almost 24,000 students competed to reach the prestigious SSPF National team which offers a platform for students to represent the country someday,” he added.
He further said that Bhaichung Bhutia, former India Football Captain and Chairman SSPF Football, believes the Schools India Cup will produce medal winners for India and encourage all schools to come out and play.
“We will add more sports each year to ensure that all children get an opportunity to play and a wide talent pool can be nurtured to bring medals for the country,” said Olympic Task Force Member and SSPF Chairman, Om Pathak.
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