Encourage children to take part in sports, ZP chief tells parents

Zilla Panchayat President P N Keshava Reddy said parents should encourage their wards  to take part  in sports  as it would facilitate their physical and mental development.

He was speaking after inaugurating Chikkaballapur taluk-level sports meet organised by the Department of Pre-university Education at Sir M Visvesvaraya District Stadium  in the city on Tuesday.

Reddy said the students are the country’s future citizens and  they should be  allowed to  make their own choices. They should also be give priority to extracurricular activities, he added.

He expressed regret that more sports meets should be organised to bring out the talents  among children. “Only two sportspersons of a  country which has a population of more  than 100 crore have  won medals in Olympics. This only shows the importance that we have given to sports,” he deplored.

Zilla Panchayat President K C Rajakanth said sports which are played all over the world have not been given much importance in India and this is the reason for the backwardness of this country in sports. The Union government should provide more grants to sports, he added.

He called upon students to give importance to extracurricular activities as well.
Zilla Panchayat Member K M Munegowda said Zilla Panchayat should dig a borewell in the stadium to provide drinking water facility.

Deputy Director of Pre-University Education Department S Janardan said students  are losing interest in sports of late. The number of students taking part in sports activities has also come down. The students should understands that complete development is possible only when they give equal importance to both studies and sports, he stated.

Farmers’ leader Yaluvahalli N Ramesh, Physical Education Subject Inspector D Arun Kumar, Vidyanikethan PU College Principal M Purushotham Reddy and senior sportsperson Manchanabele Srinivas were present on the occasion.

Students from 26 PU colleges of  the taluk are taking part  in the sports competitions to be  held for four days.