_My Youth My Pride shall be the theme of all sports activities for the calendar year-Secretary Sports Council_
Srinagar, April 26: In what is turning out to be one of the mega chess events in the history of union territory of J&K, 34th MPL National U-10 Chess Championship began in Jammu today. More than 500 participants including players comprising of both boys and girls besides technical officials from 26 states and union territories of the country are participating in the event. The event held in Kangra Fort Barnai, Jammu is being organized by J&K Sports Council and J&K Chess Association with crown trust also chipping in with sponsorship.
Secretary, J&K Sports Council Nuzhat Gul presided over the function as the Chief Guest while AICF Vice President Dr. Vipnesh Bhardwaj and Punjab State Chess Association President, Muneesh Thapar were special guests on the occasion. Nuzhat Gul was flanked by Ashok Singh Jamwal Divisional Sports Officer Jammu Dr. A .S. Bhatia HOD Bio-Sciences GMC Jammu, Raj Kumar Chief Prosecuting Officer, Baldev Raj Vice President AJKCA, Ajit Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Arvindu, Advocate Himani Kohli, Districts Association Members were also present on the occasion along with other officials from the Sports Council.
While interacting with participants, Secretary Sports Council said that it is hearting to see the young brains out there trying to get best out of each other by making moves across the chess board and adds to the focus, creativity and confidence of players. She said that Sports Council has adopted the policy of “inclusive sports” which aims to reach to all the athletes irrespective of whichever place they come from. I am sure, the special initiative of My Youth and My Pride shall fetch encouraging results in the times to come she added.
Moreover, she said Sports Council is investing time and resources so that our youth are provided with all the facilities as are being provided to their counter parts elsewhere in the country. She impressed upon training and engaging maximum people. She said, chess has advantage of being played indoors and can be proliferated in rural and tribal areas. Secretary Sports Council also gave on spot directions for holding camps on the border areas for maximum engagement of youth.
She also praised Chess Association of J&K for organizing mega level tournament and inviting players from other regions as well.
The event carries prize of five lakh rupees which will be awarded to the meritorious chess players from different categories with sum of rupees seventy thousand for each category. The talented players with good potential shall be drawn into selection teams for representing country in World, Asian and Commonwealth events.
Chairman Organizing committee and President All J&K Chess Association Atul Kumar Gupta while speaking on the occasion said that Crown trust is organizing this event under the banner of All J&K Chess Association with the support of J&K Sports Council. He thanked Secretary Sports Council, Nuzhat Gul for showing keen interest in promoting sports in J&K. He also thanked Divisional Sports Officer Ashok Singh for his cooperation and support. He also thanked Digvijay Singh owner of Kangra Fort for personally monitoring the grand arrangements.
All participants were in awe of the venue and appreciated the facilities’ put in place and praised the hospitality of Jammu. Top 10 games of the event shall be telecasted live worldwide with the support of DGT Boards which are being used for the first time in J&K. Top expert K Moorthy, Tamilnadu has also been invited for live game coverage along with Chess Base India cameraman Aditya for coverage of the event for entire span of 6 days.
Dr. Vipnesh Bhardwaj international arbiter from Chandigarh is supervising the event as chief arbiter along with 10 other arbiters and support staff and Deputy chief arbiter Salim Beig and local arbiters from J&K.
The event is a part of the special sports initiative MY Youth My Pride being organized by the J&K Sports Council in collaboration with different registered associations of respective games.
