Punjab govt releases annual sports calendar

With an aim to engage youth in sports and wean them away from menace of drugs, Sports Department in Punjab today released annual calendar, which includes tournaments like Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh Punjab Games and hockey league.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds the sports portfolio, had already approved the calendar with strict instructions to provide all facilities to the students in educational institutes to create atmosphere for healthy competition.
Giving details of the sports calendar, Tejinder Singh Dhaliwal, Director Sports, Punjab said that block level rural competitions for boys and girls under-16 years would be organised in all 142 blocks in July-August 2014.

District level rural competitions would be held from August 27-29 and district level women games from August 29-31 at district headquarters, he added.
To give a fillip to rural sports, department would organise Punjab state rural games for boys under-16 at Sangrur in the third week of October and for girls in the last week of October, at Hoshiarpur.
Punjab state women games are scheduled to be held at Patiala in the third week of September, 2014.

Tejinder said that Punjab has offered to host the National level sports festival for women (Group-II) in disciplines such as handball, hockey and lawn tennis in Jalandhar from December 20 to 23.

Besides, the department is also planning to hold weekend hockey league for boys under the age group of 14, 17, 19 years and above.
The State government has provided Rs 4 crore out of budget estimate of Rs 7 crore for 'coaching and competition scheme', wherein the remaining Rs 3 crore is expected from the Centre, he said.
Giving details of the proposed Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh Punjab Games, Dhaliwal said that the sports event includes athletics, boxing, basketball, football, kabaddi, weightlifting, wrestling, volleyball, hockey, shooting and tug of war at four different venues -- Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda and Jalandhar -- in the month of November-December.

The total prize money to be distributed in these games is Rs 2.31 crore and Rs 21 lakh per discipline. Gold medal winning teams would take home Rs 9 lakh, runners up Rs 6 lakh and the third spot holders Rs 5 lakh.