Srinagar, 23nd May 2023: Even as foreign delegates from G-20 member countries to attend third tourism working group meeting are stationed in Srinagar, a number of sports events were organized across the J&K to mark the celebrations of the G-20 summit. In the village Mangar in Poonch district, a Skipping Rope competition was held at Government Middle School, in which more than 300 students participated. The headmaster of the school, Zaqi Haider presided over the function as the chief guest. While applauding the conduct of sports events in the border village to tap the talent of local youth, the chief guest said such events help local youth in realising their potential and such events shall become a regular feature of border regions. A similar activity was organised in Girls Higher Secondary School Kharamadana in which 326 students from the school actively participated in various sports activities. The Volley Ball and Korfball competitions were also held in the premises of the venue for students of the school grouped into girls’ and boys’ teams. Anju Gupta, Principal of the school was the chief guest on the occasion. Meanwhile, in district Srinagar a G-20 Football match was organised at KNS Stadium Radpora in downtown Srinagar between Shehr-i-Khaas XI and JK Football Academy. The high voltage match ended in a draw as both the teams scored 2 goals each. The TRC Cricket Academy ground remained busy as well where a G-20 cricket match was played between Sports Council Cricket Academy and Dalgate Fraternity XI. Batting first, Sports Council Cricket academy folded at 123 runs losing all the wickets in the pursuit in 20 overs. While chasing the meagre target Dalgate Fraternity XI could not negotiate the tight line bowled by SCCA bowlers and lost the match by 6 runs. A G20 Cricket match was also played at Gani Memorial Stadium downtown Srinagar between the teams of Real Downtown and Zadibal XI. After winning the toss Real downtown chose to bat and scored 148 in their full quota of 20 overs. The match was in progress when the report was filed. The sports activities were also organised in Humanity Public School in Bari Brahmana of Samba district in which more than 300 students participated in Yogasana sports competition. The entire staff of the school was part of the spectators who rooted for the students of their respective classes. The athletic and Korfball events were organised on the occasion. The group match of the ongoing 5th Sir Mohammad Iqbal Memorial Football Championship-2023 being played in Sher-I Kashmir Stadium Bandipora was played between Elites FC Baramulla and Syed Ajar FC Bandipora. Both the teams gave tough competition to each other and in the end was the Elites FC which prevailed over their opponents by a narrow margin of 1-0 goals. Noman Ayoub of Elites FC was declared as man of the match for his skills with the ball. A sports event was organised in Government High School, Pali where a one-day competition in the discipline of Wushu was held. The 250 students from the institute participated in the event organised to disseminate the information about G-20 summit, climate change issues, renewable energy, and technological breakthrough etc among the students. The regular classwork of Sports Council Academies, Khelo India Centres and other coaching endeavours went ahead as usual besides many special activities slated to be played under floodlights at different venues of J&K Sports Council were about to commence when the report was being filed.
