World at their feat

CHILDREN GAPED in wonder, youngsters clapped with enthusiasm and the elders were thrilled to bits. Live and amazing performances rather feats of strongmen and the fantastic skills of a few jugglers and the presence of national and international reputed sportstars made the `Night of Stars' an enjoyable event on Saturday night.

After wowing the crowds in Bangalore, Chennai and Kottayam, the `stars' descended on the vast open ground of St. Patricks High School. Martial arts has a charm of its own and when the true exponents present some of their well-honed skills, it's a treat to watch. A `power team', consisting of Felix, Prakash Simon and Raghu, presented `Geneses' in a typical taekwando style.

Think of the thick telephone directory and imagine tearing it in the middle with bare hands! That was what our super muscled men in the form of Manoj Kumar Chopra and Heronaran did with an effortless ease. Bending a steel rod or crushing a tin can was also not such a difficult task for these gentlemen!

Anto, a sub-junior level player from Tamil Nadu, astounded the gathering with his balancing act with a football. Basketball might not be a hot sport here but Brent W. Fuqua showed some eye- popping skills with it. Herculean efforts of breaking concrete slabs, running a bike and jeep over a person (one feat had a bed of nails placed beneath) made the crowd hold their breath.

But what are sportspersons doing in the midst of `he-men'? It was to spread the message of clean sports. That you can achieve sporting success by being a better person in saying `no' to drugs, alcohol, tobacco and in preventing the spread of AIDS.

The `Night of the stars' organised by the Bangalore chapter of Gospel Mission in association with Athletes International had a simple message - "God will set you free from all problems and if He is for you, who can be against you". Olympic swimmer Nisha Millet, cricketers -- Noel David, Reuben Paul, and Daniel Manohar -- and others too pitched in.

By V. Geetanath

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