River rafting competition held on concluding day of Ladakh School Olympics 2019

On the last day of Ladakh School Olympics (LSO) 2019, the first of its kind, a river rafting competition was conducted for the students in Leh on Sunday.

The race covered a stretch of 8 km from Tsoksti till Sangam viewpoint in Zanskar River here.

Chewang Phonsog, Vice-Chancellor, Ladakh Cluster University was the chief guest on the occasion and he also flagged off the boys and girls' rafting teams from Tsoksti.

"I am delighted to see school children from Ladhak participating in this rafting competition and I hope it becomes an annual event just like various other sports. Rafting is very unique to in the mountain region like Ladhak and Himachal Pradesh," Chewang told ANI.

"Sports teaches discipline, self-control, good mannerism, team spirit and provides every child the opportunity of holistic growth and to be a good human in life," he added.

The three-day white water rafting competition, which was a part of the LSO-2019, commenced on July 17 and concluded on July 21. The competition gave the students participants an opportunity to experience a range of adventure water sports.

"Our team has participated for the first time in Ladakh School Olympics 2019. This was an amazing experience for all of us here. We were thoroughly given rafting training, in the first two days of the competition," a student participant told ANI.

Addressing the gathering during an award ceremony function held at Adventure Park near Nimoo Sangam, Phonsog congratulated the top three ranking teams. He appreciated the initiative and efforts of district administration in organizing the Ladakh School Olympics.

He stressed on the need to give more attention to promote sports in our country to have greater participation in world Olympics and said that LSO is a step forward in this direction.

Phonsog suggested the administration to involve both Leh and Kargil districts in LSO from next year for more participation and better competition. He urged the students to inculcate true sportsmanship spirit by learning to take victory without pride and defeat without remorse.

Advisor to all Ladakh Rafting Organisation also spoke on the occasion and informed that the best 10 students selected from the rafting teams will be sent to Rishikesh for river rafting training this year.

He expressed gratitude to DC, Leh Avny Lavasa for including rafting in LSO and requested Administration for more support in promoting the sport which has great potential in providing job opportunities for locals as rafting guides.

Later, C. Phonsog presented medals to the top three teams from different schools.