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Sports to get a boost
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The policy aims at giving a major boost to sports at the grass root level
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MARCH FORWARD The spirit of sport spreads far and wide Photo: Mohd. Yousuf
The State Government and the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) are formulating a new sports policy, feedback for which is being obtained from experts in the field.
Broadly, the salient points in the new document centre around (a) thrust on grass root level sports, (b) activities at the school, college and university levels with a battery of tests every quarter to asses a child's potential in sports, (c) supply of sports equipment to all social welfare hostels and A.P. Social Welfare Residential schools, (d) equipment supply to every government school in each village or municipality, (e) systematic conduct of competitions in rural and urban areas, (f) providing best possible play areas and quality equipment, (g) admission of talented sportspersons to build strong teams for inter-varsity competitions, (h) funding of playfields and easy accessibility to them, (I) village level open competitions once a year, (j) village level women's sports every year especially in tennikoit, throwball and ball badminton, (k) tribal sports festivals for school and non-school children once a year and (I) introduction of physical education and sports sciences in university curriculum in a phased and qualitative manner.
If the drive is aimed at providing access to sports and the facilities they need at the grass root level, this draft could be a logical starting point.
From the setting up of infrastructure in predominantly urban areas for the National and Afro Asian Games in the past, the move to diverge to the districts will further harness the increasing enthusiasm for sports . It could also promote sports as a constructive recreation in rural areas, so starved of such diversions.
A symbolic start to the programme was given by the Chief Minister, Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, whose inputs were used for framing of the policy.
At the Lal Bahadur Stadium he distributed sports equipment to A.P. Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions (APSWREI) and social welfare hostels for boys and girls on Ambedkar Jayanthi day.
It was timed to ensure the equipment was put to good use during the summer holidays.
The programme will be repeated every year until 2007, said SAAP Vice Chairperson and Managing Director Sumita Dawra, who has been actively associated with drafting the new policy document.
A. Joseph Antony
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