Hamirpur: Motivated by the games slogan ‘Khelega Yuva, Jeetega Himachal’, excitement at the venues is palpable among competing athletes and the spectators out in large numbers to witness the first of its kind 4 day sporting event being organised by the HP Olympic Association here.
On Day 2 it was high-octane performances in Wrestling, Boxing, Hockey, Judo and other sporting disciplines. Hamirpur and Mandi are to clash in the hockey finals, scheduled for Day 3.
Rajeev Mehta, Secretary General of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was Chief Guest for the day and he gave away the prizes to the winners today.
“It is admirable to see an event of this stature being held in a small town. Such initiatives go a long way in promoting talent at the grass root level,” said Mehta as he commended Anurag Thakur president HPOA for organising the games.
Those participating in the games include national champion Vikas Thakur, Judo’s National Champion Manish Kumar, National Gold Medalist Ashutosh Kumar, a known boxer from Mandi District.
In a quarter-final freestyle wrestling match in the 84 kg weight-category Pankaj from Hamirpur beat Tilakraj of Mandi witha score line of 14-12.
In the freestyle wrestling semi-final for the 66 kg weight-category Balbir from Una got the better of Muskeen from Solan by a narrow margin of of 14-13 to earn a place in the finals.
In the 75 kg weight-category (Male) of boxing semi-final Ashish Kumar, a national gold medalist for the category beat Ashish Negi from Kinnaur with a clear 5-0 verdict.
In the 64 Kg weight-category (Male) boxing bout between Mohd. Aish of Shimla scored over narrowly over Puran Dev of Mandi in a keenly contested fight with the judges giving the match to Mohd. Aish with a 3:2 verdict.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
