Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 19: Outplaying their rivals with convincing margins, the Jammu and Kashmir boys and girls teams have started the campaign on a winning note in the 59th National School Games Under-14 Boys and Girls Volleyball Tournament, which was declared open by Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand in an impressive, colourful and well attended opening ceremony at MA Stadium, here today.
The Tournament is being organized by the Department of Youth Services and Sports, under the auspices of School Games Federation of India (SGFI).
The Deputy Chief Minister inaugurated the event in presence of Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports Feroz Ahmad Khan, who presided over the function. Director General Youth Services and Sports, Navin Aggarwal and Secretary, Youth Services and Sports Department, Parvez Ahmad Malik were present on the occasion.
Prominent among others present on the occasion were Joint Director Youth Services and Sports, Madan Lal, Deputy Director YSS Jammu, Ved Prakash, Deputy Director, Ashok Kumar, former Deputy Director and Vice President SGFI, Kanchan Bala, Ashutosh Sharma, Deepak Handa, besides officers and officials of the Department of Youth Services and Sports and J&K J&K State Sports Council.
Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister lavished praise on the organizers for organizing this sporting extravaganza and said that such events apart from promoting sports, play a vital role in promoting culture and tourism.
Mr Tara Chand said that these events provide opportunity to the players of various States to exchange their culture with their counterparts, besides helping in bringing peace and harmony in the State.
Minister of State for Sports, Feroz Ahmad Khan in his address welcomed the Deputy Chief Minister and said that the event provides a great opportunity for the State teams to showcase their talent and skill, besides helping the cause of promoting sports.
The Director General Youth Services and Sports, Navin Aggarwal while speaking on the occasion briefed about the arrangements for comfortable stay of the visiting teams, besides extending thanks to the dignitaries for gracing the occasion with their presence.
Mr Aggarwal further said 42 teams, with 22 boys and 20 girls teams drawn from 22 States are participating in this mega event to vie for the top honours.
Later, Ved Prakash, Deputy Director Youth Services and Sports, who happens to be the organizing secretary of the event presented vote of thanks.
Meanwhile, vice president SGFI, Ashok Kumar has informed that the selected Indian teams in this Tournament will be visiting Vietnam for forthcoming Asian School Championship.
The beautiful cultural items were presented by Govt HSS Mubarak Mandi and HSS Canal Road Jammu.
Earlier, J&K boys defeated Chhattisgarh (2-0) by (25-12, 25-6). Hazim, Danish and Farzan were the performers for the host team in this opening tie.
In girls section, J&K eves got better of Punjab (2-0) by (25-24, 25-22) to begin the campaign in style.
Meanwhile, in other matches of boys section, Karnataka trounced Rajasthan by (2-0), UP trounced MP by (2-0), Uttrakhand prevailed over Chandigarh by (2-0), Haryana got better of Maharashtra by (2-0), AP beat Gujarat by (2-0), Vidhya Bharti outplayed Manipur by (2-0), Tamilnadu outclassed IPSC (2-0) and Jharkhand defeated HP by (2-1) in a close contest, while in girls section, Maharashtra drubbed Tamilnadu (2-0) by (25-20, 25-8), Haryana beat IPSC (2-0) by (24-13, 25-9), UP beat Vidhya Bharti (2-0) by 25-18,25-10, Karnataka beat M.P.(2-0) by 25-12, 25-19, Jharkhand beat Himachal Pradesh (2-1) by 25-23, 16-28, 15-08.
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