Emphasising that society should give priority to sports to inculcate spirit of sportsmanship in youth, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off the Khel Mahakumbh, 2012, an annual feature of the state government to promote sports in Gujarat.
Over 2.5 million athletes from across the state which include 7,00,000 women and 1,00,000 specially-abled athletes of all age groups would participate in the mega-sports event, organised by the state government.
The annual event was to be held in December 2012, but due to the state assembly elections and the model code of conduct in force it could not be held as per schedule.
Speaking on the occasion, Modi reiterated his government's commitment to leave no stone unturned to promote sports across the state. He claimed that in the past sports remained restricted to only schools and colleges. "Governments gave budget but only those schools where there was an active sports teacher, sportsperson or parents that we saw interest. Sports was being played, money was being spent but something was lacking, " Modi said.
"Not to give importance to sports is a great disservice. There can be no sportsman spirit in the society without sports," Modi said. "Spirit of sportsmanship in youth would only come if sports was given priority in society," he added.
The chief minister did not want the spirit of sportsmanship to be restricted sports field, he wanted to spread it across the state. Modi further urged people to come out in large numbers at the sports event venues and encourage the athletes participating in it.
Under the Khel Mahakumbh, sports events will be held across the state at village, block and district levels. Then the finally every district would compete for the state level title. The sports events would continue for net 15-20 days across the state.
