Wednesday, Jan 08, 2003
Wednesday, Jan 08, 2003 |
| Southern States | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Southern States
-
Karnataka
By Our Special Correspondent
The Chairman of the Indian Olympic Association, Suresh Kalmadi, inaugurated the championship, as the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, could not attend the function. Mr. Kalmadi emphasised the need for greater encouragement to athletics. He said 2003 was expected to be an important year for athletic events in the country going by the admirable performances of the Indian athletes at the Asian Games last year, 90 per cent of whom were in the junior category. Young athletes needed to be encouraged by offering more incentives, he added. Mr. Kalmadi was all praise for the Andhra Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, for hosting the National Athletic Meet in Hyderabad recently, and hoped that the manner in which he mobilised financial support from sponsors and giving cash prizes to winners would serve as a model. He appreciated the decision of the organising committee of the junior athletic meet to give cash awards to winners in addition to medals and certificates, and said the gesture would go a long way in promoting sports.
`Youth Games'
Mr. Kalmadi announced that the first "National Youth Games" would be held in Bangalore. With this, he said, Karnataka would have the credit of hosting two major junior national sporting events (including the ongoing junior athletic meet) this year. He had discussed the matter of holding the Youth Games with the Chief Minister and the Minister for Sports, who had promised to extend support. "It is not enough if Karnataka becomes the leader in information technology (IT) alone. It should be the leader in sports too,'' he added. He said he was happy to note that sponsors, who were supporting only cricket players, were of late coming forward to support athletic events. Perhaps they appreciated the fact that while cricket was played in only a few countries, athletics was the main sporting event in 200 countries. He complimented the Mysore Paper Mills (MPM) in Bhadravati, a State Government undertaking, for co-sponsoring the junior athletic meet. The Minister for Information, and Health and Family Welfare, Kagodu Thimmappa, who is the minister in charge of the district, presided over the inaugural function and hoisted the national flag to mark the inauguration of the meet. Speaking on the occasion, the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, D.H. Shankaramurthy, said sportspersons should be assured of adequate support if they were expected to give a good performance at international sport events. The former Chief Minister and Shimoga MP, S. Bangarappa, who is the Chief Patron of the meet, thanked the Shimoga Urban Development Authority (SUDA) for allotting separate sites of six acres each for the construction of sport hostels for boys and girls, near here. The Minister of State for Sports and Youth Services, S.S. Mallikarjun, who hoisted the flag of the Amateur Athletic Federation of India, said that the Government was extending assistance to young athletes. The Minister of State for Municipal Administration, Kumar Bangarappa, who hoisted the flag of the Karnataka Amateur Athletic Association, gave the introductory speech. Earlier, the President of the Karnataka Amateur Athletic Association, R. Ratan Singh, welcomed the gathering. Karnataka's Bindu Rani took the oath on behalf of the participants.
Forced landing
Mr. Kalmadi and Mr. Thimmappa arrived two hours late as the helicopter carrying them made a forced landing near Ajjampur near Tarikere in Chikmagalur District when it developed a technical snag, and they had to travel to the meet venue by road.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
