The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Large turnout for Olympic Day run

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Thursday, Jun 24, 2004

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Sport - Olympic Games

Large turnout for Olympic Day run

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JUNE 23 . More than 20,000 runners took part in the 18th edition of the Olympic Day run, which was conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Olympic Association (APOA) on a massive scale throughout the Twin Cities here on Wednesday. The programme was organised under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP), Department of Education, Govt of AP and the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, to commemorate the founding of the Modern Olympic Games.

The participants included former Olympians, Dronachaya awardees and Arjuna awardees, international and national level sportspersons, coaches, officials and children from the colleges and schools of the Twin Cities. Similar programmes were also simultaneously held in all the 23 district headquarters of the state.

The runners were flagged off from four centres in Hyderabad — Charminar, Victory Playround, YMCA (Hyderabad) and Mehdipatnam crossroads and two centres in Secunderabad — Gandhi statue on MG Road and Boinpally crossroads. After traversing several kilometres, the runners converged at the Lal Bahadur stadium.

Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, Chief Minister of AP, received the torches from the runners at the concluding point and later addressed the gathering. He promised that his government would do its utmost to promote and develop sports in the state.

Earlier L. Rajagopal, MP, who was the Chairman of the Organising Committee, welcomed the Chief Minister and the participants. Sunita Dawra, IAS, the newly appointed Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh, also spoke on the occasion and asserted that the SAAP will go all out to help the cause of sportspersons in the state. L. Venkatram Reddy, Secretary, AP Olympic Association, proposed a vote of thanks.

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