Jammu, Mar 18:Stressing for maximum involvement of students in sports and other games, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan on Thursday emphasized on identification of talent on grass root level so that they can excel at UT, national and international level.

Chairing a review meeting of Youth Services and Sports here at Civil Secretariat, Mr Khan said that the UT of J&K is committed to promote sports culture and creation of to-date modern facilities for achieving excellence.

Principal Secretary Alok Kumar Youth Services and Sports, Director General, YS&S, Dr Salim-ur-Rehman, Special Assistant to Advisor, Waseem Raja attended the meeting.

At the outset, the DG YS&S gave a powerpoint presentation and presented district wise projects reports besides the sporting events organised by the department.

The DG apprised that more than 2.5 lakh students participated in Fit India/Swachta Pledge/Rashtriya Ekta Diwas programs.

He further informed that 10 thousand students participated in different sports activities under My Town My Pride initiative whereas more than 1.5 lakh students participated in different sports activities during the B2V program.

He also informed that 1600 playfields have been made available at Panchayat Level.

The DG also apprised the Advisor regarding the status of other major projects under augmentation of sports infrastructure in J&K including construction of synthetic athletic tracks, synthetic football turfs, synthetic hockey fields, rugby play field, swimming pools at different venues.

The Advisor applauded the role of the Youth Services & Sports (YS&S) department for conducting multifarious activities amid COVID pandemic.

He further asked the DG YS&S to provide the infrastructure like playing fields, courts, turfs to every district so that each of the activities can be held there.

He maintained that there is immense talent for such games among the youth especially from rural and tribal areas and asked for providing equal opportunities to both boys and girls in each of the activities carried by the department.

Advisor Khan appreciated the department for organising the first ever trekking event in Jammu division which received an enthusiastic response from all the stakeholders.

Advisor Khan asked YSS to identify local players with achievements in their respective fields and to utilize them so that youth would be attracted towards sports.

He underscored the need to encourage outstanding players from J&K by highlighting their achievements.

“These local players would be J&K’s ambassadors and would also serve as youth icons for budding players of J&K,” Advisor Khan said.

The Advisor directed the concerned executing agencies to finish the projects within a given time frame so that the sporting facilities would be made available to players and youth alike.(UNI)