The ruling National Conference (NC) today called for focused attention towards rural sports and regretted that it was not getting its due attention.
"Like other parts of the country, Jammu and Kashmir too has a tradition of organising rural sports on special occasions, coinciding with various festivals", said NC provincial president Devendra Singh Rana, but observed that the trend was dwindling fast.
Rana gave away the 29th Vishal Dangal Saloora Kesri award to Pahalwan Binyia of Jammu and Kashmir Police, who won the title by defeating R C Singh of Haryana Police.
Presence of reputed and eminent wrestles of North India was a source of inspiration for budding wrestlers of the region, Rana said adding, "I hope they will learn from veterans in the field."
Referring to the steps initiated by the government for promotion of sports in rural and far off areas, he said, "The idea is to provide larger canvass to the rural youth for demonstrating their talent."
Expressing satisfaction over the enthusiasm of rural youth in traditional games like Kabadi and Wrestling Rana added, "we have to maintain this momentum by giving fillip to these activities in a big way.
