KalingaTV News Network
Cuttack: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday expressed his wish to see Odia athletes winning Olympic medal.
“I am extremely happy that we organised the first tribal sports meet in the country. I am looking forward to our tribal boys and girls earning medals in the Olympics,” said Patnaik while addressing at the closing ceremony of the tribal sports meet at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here yesterday.
The one of its kind sports event witnessed over 1.3 lakh players from all 30 districts competing in seven sports – Football, Archery, Hockey, Kho-Kho, Kabaddi, Athletics and Volleyball.
On the final day of the event, the girls’ team from Malkangiri emerged champion in Volley ball while Kandhamal girls won the trophy in Kabaddi. Khurda lifted the trophy in boys’ hockey category and Sambalpur won the football tournament.
Basanta Pujari of Koraput and Hira Majhi of Sambalpur were the winners of 1,500m run in senior boys’ and girls’ category respectively.
Guests and spectators who attended the closing ceremony were enthralled by different tribal dances like Ghumura dance of Kalahandi and Durua dance of Koraput.
The Sports and Youth Services Department had launched the Tribal Sports Meet on December 18 last year. Later, it conducted the state level competitions at Balasore, Baripada, Bhawanipatna, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Koraput and Rourkela from where the players were selected.
The three-day sports meet was being held simultaneously held at Kalinga Stadium and KIIT Stadium in Bhubaneswar and Satyabrata Stadium and Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack.
Sports Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera, State ST and SC Minister Ramesh Majhi, Sports and Youth Services Department secretary Vishal Kumar Dev, Director Vineel Krishna, Cuttack-Barabati MLA Debasish Samantaray, Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahatab and other dignitaries were present during the closing ceremony.
Kalinga AI